Minsk can no longer be a negotiating platform for Donbass, the head of the Ukrainian delegation Leonid Kravchuk said on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.
They will find another place for this, said Kravchuk.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Kiev delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass (TCG) Aleksey Arestovich also noted that Ukraine may refuse to hold talks in the Belarusian capital, since the republic “has ceased to be a neutral state”. According to him, Kiev “will look for some kind of European capital, not a NATO member”.
Ryanair Incident
On May 23, a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius urgently landed at the Minsk airport due to a message about mining, which was not confirmed later. On board was Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, recognized as extremist in Belarus. He was detained while checking documents. In the republic, a criminal case was initiated against the journalist under several articles, including the organization of mass riots. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
EU countries stated that Minsk forced the plane to land at its airport under an invented pretext. In protest, Brussels banned Belarusian airlines from flying over its territory and recommended European operators not to use the airspace of the republic. The possibility of introducing additional sanctions is also being considered.
In Belarus, they replied that the message about mining came to the airport’s e-mail and the crew commander himself decided to land, there was no coercion. Minsk is ready to provide recordings of the dispatchers’ conversation, but none of the European countries expressed a desire to get acquainted with them, the Foreign Ministry added.