Belarus accused France of “
air piracy
” on Wednesday 26 May
for having refused its airspace to a Belarusian plane on a Minsk-Barcelona route, forcing it to turn around.
Read also: Europe places Minsk in quarantine
“
It is an absolutely scandalous fact and an immoral act. Honestly, it's practically air piracy
, ”Anatoly Glaz, spokesperson for Belarusian diplomacy, said in a statement. This incident comes three days after the rerouting to Minsk of an airliner flying from Athens to Vilnius on board which was a Belarusian opponent and his companion who were arrested, prompting an avalanche of Western condemnations and new EU sanctions .
On Wednesday May 26, a Minsk-Barcelona flight from the national company
Belavia
had to turn around a few minutes after taking off, just before entering Polish airspace. According to
Belavia
, "
three minutes before takeoff, the French aeronautical authorities deactivated the flight plan without notifying the airline
" which learned about it from Polish air traffic controllers. French flight
dispatchers
"
invoked an oral order from the French prime minister,
"
Belavia
added
in a statement. "
The cold disregard for the interests of those on board, their safety, is simply astounding
", Added Anatoli Glaz, assuring that most of the passengers were citizens of the European Union and denouncing"
a direct violation of the norms of international law
".
To read also: "A bad Soviet action movie": passengers of the flight diverted by Belarus tell
In retaliation for the arrest of Belarusian opponent Roman Protassevich, the European Union made the decision on Monday to close its airspace to Belarus, but the final decision rests with EU countries.
Poland on Wednesday evening banned its airspace to Belarusian planes.