BRUSSELS: The European Union has slapped a ban on the overflight of this 27-nation bloc’s airspace and using its airports by Belarus airlines, even in the aftermath of Minsk’s determination to redirect a Ryanair passenger airplane to detain a dissident journalist a month.
EU headquarters said in a statement Friday that member states will”be asked to deny consent to land , remove from overfly their lands to some aircraft controlled by Belarusian air carriers, such as a marketing company.” Belarus’ international isolation has escalated as the May 23 episode, where Belarusian flight controllers told the team of a Ryanair jet of the alleged bomb threat.
They also taught them to property in Minsk, in which journalist Raman Pratasevich had been hauled away from the airplane by police.