Turkey used its veto and insisted that NATO soften its position on Belarus after the incident with the landing of the Ryanair plane, Reuters reports, citing diplomatic sources.
On May 26, the North Atlantic Council issued a statement in which NATO countries called for an international investigation into the emergency landing of Ryanair in Minsk. The document also contains a demand to release the detained Roman Protasevich and Sophia Sapega.
The NATO allies reaffirmed their support for the decisions taken by the European Union on Belarus. In addition, they expressed solidarity with Latvia “in connection with the unjustified expulsion of diplomats”.
According to the agency’s sources, Turkey insisted that the paragraphs on the introduction of new sanctions by Western countries against Belarus, on calls for the release of all political prisoners and on the possible suspension of NATO’s cooperation with the republic were removed from the text of the statement.
“The statement of the North Atlantic Council on Belarus was agreed upon by all 30 allies on the basis of consensus. We do not go into the details of the discussions taking place in the North Atlantic Council, they are confidential”, – the NATO representative stressed.
It is noted that one of the diplomats said that before the publication of the statement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had achieved the consent of all allies, including Turkey. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry of this country did not respond to the agency’s request.
On May 23, the plane of the Irish airline Ryanair, flying from Athens to Vilnius, landed in Minsk after information about a possible mining operation. This information was not subsequently confirmed.
On the plane was Roman Protasevich, the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel and the chief editor of the Brain Belarus Telegram channel, declared by Belarus on the interstate wanted list, who were recognized as extremist in the republic. He was detained at the Minsk airport together with a Russian citizen Sophia Sapega, suspected of committing crimes under the Criminal Code of Belarus.
A number of politicians from the EU countries, as well as European officials demanded an international investigation of the incident, which they regarded as a forced landing of an aircraft en route from one EU country to another through the airspace of a third country. Some states have decided to suspend flights over the territory of Belarus.
On the eve of radio Sputnik reported that ICAO had decided to investigate the incident with the landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk.