The European Union has banned flights of Belarusian airlines in its airspace and their use of its airports.
The move comes in the wake of Minsk’s decision to divert a Ryanair passenger plane to arrest a dissident journalist last month.
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EU headquarters said member countries will “be required to deny permission to land in, take off from or overfly their territories to any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers, including as a marketing carrier”.
Belarus’ international isolation has deepened since the May 23 incident, in which Belarusian flight controllers told the crew of a Ryanair jet of an alleged bomb threat.
They also instructed them to land in Minsk, where journalist Raman Pratasevich was pulled off the plane by authorities.
