1. Presidents of Russia and Belarus lead 5 hour negotiations
On Friday, May 28th, presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko held talks in Sochi. They lasted for more than 5 hours. The leaders of two countries discussed economic issues and the development of bilateral ties, particularly, energy cooperation. Putin noted the increase in trade between the two states and pointed out that the commissioning of the first unit of the BelNPP will take place in June.
The presidents also commented on the situation around the Ryanair plane. According to Alexander Lukashenko, the reaction of Western countries to this event speaks of an attempt to destabilize the situation in Minsk – just as it was in August 2020. In turn, Putin recalled that in 2013, the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales was landed in Vienna due to rumors that a former CIA agent Edward Snowden was on board. That way, Putin noted the double standards of the West, which reacts to such cases in completely different ways. According to Lukashenko, he intends to show his Russian counterpart “some documents” on the situation with the Ryanair flight.
2. Ryanair landing incident in Minsk
On May 23rd, Boeing 737 of the Irish airline Ryanair, flying from Athens to Vilnius, landed in Minsk after the announcement of an alleged mining operation. This information was not confirmed afterwards. Onboard the plane, there was Roman Protasevich, founder of Nexta Telegram channel, which is recognized as extremist in Belarus. Protasevich was removed from the flight and detained at the Minsk airport together with a Russian citizen Sophia Sapega, suspected of committing crimes under the Criminal Code of Belarus. This act has been strongly condemned by members of international community.
In the EU countries, the landing of the liner was regarded as “forced”. The leaders of the EU states recommended that European air carriers avoid flights over the territory of Belarus and called for the closure of the airspace of the Union member states for Belarusian airlines. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova called the West’s reaction to the incident with the plane in Belarus “shocking”, recalling the precedent with the landing of Evo Morales in Vienna. Those who make high-profile statements should either react to all such events, or they should not condemn “the same behavior of others”, she said.
Austrian Airlines and Air France have not been able to operate flights to the capital of the Russian Federation over the past two days due to the lack of permission from Russia to arrive on an alternative route bypassing Belarus. The State Duma admits any answer from European countries, up to the ban on flying to the EU through Belarus, but note that termination of flights is unlikely.
3. US refusal to return to Open Skies Treaty concerned as another political mistake
As reported by the US Department of State, the United States will not return to the Open Skies Treaty. Washington accused Russia of not making any efforts to abide by the treaty and noted that noted that Russia’s behavior, including its recent actions towards Ukraine, does not correspond to the behavior of a partner committed to building trust.
According to the commentary given by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the USA is fully responsible for the collapse of the Open Skies Treaty, while Russia for a long time had been putting effort to preserve it.
“The American side, like a year ago, tried to justify its destructive decision with far-fetched politicized accusations against Russia that have nothing to do with reality. This step by Washington again demonstrated disregard not only for European security, but also for the interests of its own allies, who asked to reconsider the decision taken by the Donald Trump administration”, – the Foreign Ministry said.
4. Escalated situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border gains momentum
The situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated on May 12th. The Armenian Defense Ministry then reported that the Azerbaijani armed forces tried to carry out certain work “to clarify the borders” in one of the border areas of the Syunik region. The acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about his instructions to seek consultations from the CSTO in connection with the situation on the border with Azerbaijan.
On Thursday, May 27th, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced an attempt by Armenian soldiers to cross the state border between the countries, as a result six people were detained. According to Baku, the servicemen were members of two “reconnaissance and sabotage groups”. Later, Yerevan confirmed the incident, stating that the military “carried out engineering work in the protected area of the military unit of the Armenian Armed Forces at the border area”.
The military prosecutor’s office in Armenia opened a criminal case after the arrest of six servicemen on the border with Azerbaijan, said adviser to the Armenian Prosecutor General Gor Abrahamyan.