BRUSSELS – Angry European Union leaders were set to consider a joint response Monday to Belarus' diversion of a plane traveling between EU member nations in order to arrest a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist.
Raman Pratasevich, who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against Belarus' authoritarian president, was on board the Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, when it was diverted to the Belarusian capital, Minsk while flying over Belarus.
Belarusian flight controllers had warned the plane crew of an alleged bomb threat and ordered it to land in Minsk, and a Belarusian fighter jet was scrambled to escort the Ryanair airliner.