Sanctions and flight bans: The options open to the Government in response to the Belarus ‘plane hijacking’

European nations have united in their  condemnation of the Government of Belarus after a Ryanair flight was diverted to enable the arrest of an opponent of the country’s regime.

The country is facing further sanctions and international criticism  over the arrest of Roman Protasevich, which was described as a hijacking operation.

Mr Protasevich was on board a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius when it changed course to head for Minsk. The Belarus government claimed there was a bomb scare as the plane flew over its airspace but this was disputed by opponents of the regime.

What are the next steps?

European Union leaders will hold emergency talks to discuss the situation on Monday.

A summit of leaders had already been scheduled to take place in Brussels and, following the developments on Sunday night, the arrest of the opposition journalist was expected to be top of the agenda.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said: “The EU will consider the consequences of this action, including taking measures against those responsible.”

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said EU leaders would be discussing what action to take against the “regime”.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed he was in talks with allies about a coordinated response.

Mr Raab said he was working with allies, stating that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko must be held to account for his “outlandish actions”.

Sanctions

One likely response would be for European allies to impose further sanctions on Belarus.

But there are limited options available for effective sanctioning given they have already been imposed on the country’s government in response to the authoritarian behaviour of long-serving leader Alexander Lukashenko.

The UK, EU and US imposed economic sanctions last year, but they had no effect on the Government’s actions.

Previous rounds of sanctions have primarily involved adding officials to black lists which restrict their right to travel or do business in Europe and the US.

Flight ban

Another response would be to suspend overflights of EU airlines over Belarus or banning the Belarusian airline Belavia from landing at EU airports.

Both these scenarios have support within the UK Parliament, with the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, arguing in favour of a flight ban and suggesting that the airspace is not safe for civilians.

Latvian airline airBaltic has already announced it would no longer be flying over Belarusian air space.

Mr Raab also suggested the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) council – responsible for monitoring aviation regulations – should urgently meet to consider the regime’s flouting of the rules.

Diplomatic ticking-off

Shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has argued that Mr Raab should call the Belarusian ambassador in London into the Foreign Office.

She said the incident was “appalling”, telling Times Radio: “If I were the Foreign Secretary today I would be demanding that the ambassador comes to see me in order to demand the release of Roman Protasevich, the journalist who was arrested, and dozens of others who’ve been arrested and detained in similar circumstances over the last few weeks.

“There has got to be repercussions for this because as I said earlier it tears up the international rules. It just simply cannot be allowed to stand,” she said.

Investigation

Poland’s prosecutor general has ordered an investigation into the incident. The plane is registered in Poland and so the case falls under Polish jurisdiction.

“The prosecutor general has ordered an investigation into the landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk. Most probably the investigation will also involve a number of steps at the international level,” the prosecutor’s office spokesman told Reuters