"Air piracy".
This is the accusation made this Wednesday by Belarus against the French authorities.
The reason: France refused its airspace to a Belarusian plane on a Minsk-Barcelona route, forcing it to turn around.
“It is an absolutely scandalous fact and an immoral act.
Honestly, it's practically air piracy, ”Belarusian diplomacy spokesman Anatoly Glaz said in a statement.
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This incident comes three days after the diversion to Minsk of an airliner making the connection Athens-Vilnius, on board which was a Belarusian opponent, Roman Protassevich, as well as his companion.
Both were arrested on landing in Belarus, prompting an avalanche of Western condemnations and further sanctions from the EU.
The Minsk-Barcelona flight of the national airline 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.
Poland in turn closes its airspace
French flight dispatchers "invoked an oral order from the French Prime Minister," Belavia said in a statement.
"The cold contempt for the interests of those on board, their safety, is simply astounding", adds 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 ".
In the process, Poland on Wednesday evening banned its airspace to Belarusian planes.
A decision taken after the U-turn of the Minsk-Barcelona flight.
Polish authorities said they had refused entry of the aircraft into their airspace because France had said it would not allow it to enter French airspace afterwards.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller then said on Twitter that "the Council of Ministers has voted in favor of a ban on the entry into Polish airspace of planes used by Belarusian companies".
Poland shares a long border with Belarus, so this ban is expected to affect flights by Belarusian companies, including the national carrier Belavia, to Western Europe.
Paris-Moscow flight "postponed"
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.
This situation led to the postponement of an Air France flight between Paris and Moscow on Wednesday.
“Air France confirms that it had to postpone flight AF1154 on the Paris-Charles de Gaulle-Moscow route in a Boeing B787 on May 26, 2021, for operational reasons related to bypassing Belarusian airspace, requiring a new authorization from the from the Russian authorities to enter their territory, ”said a spokesperson for the airline.
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"The flight is at this stage postponed to (Thursday) May 27 and a new situation will be made in the evening" of Wednesday, according to him, while "the passengers were taken care of by the Air France staff of the stopover at Paris Charles de Gaulle ”.
"Air France regrets the inconvenience linked to this situation", concludes the French company.
The flight was supposed to take off at 10:20 am from Paris and land at 3:00 pm at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
Earlier Wednesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the rerouting of an airliner and then the arrest of an opponent on board on Sunday were legal, before accusing the West of wanting to "strangle" his country.