Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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Ireland is expected to favour EU sanctions against Irish-registered companies leasing aircraft to Belarus, which has been accused of using Belavia to transport migrants into Europe.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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EU is close to imposing more sanctions on Belarus, targeting some 30 individuals and entities including the foreign minister and airline Belavia, with approval as early as next week.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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sn26567 wrote: 10 Nov 2021, 16:28 EU is close to imposing more sanctions on Belarus, targeting some 30 individuals and entities including the foreign minister and airline Belavia, with approval as early as next week.
Belavia says it does not operate, and has not operated, scheduled or charter services to any of the following countries subject of allegations regarding migrant trafficking: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan and Syria. Does anyone believe them?

EU may look to also place restrictions on Aeroflot and Turkish Airlines in response to the migrant issue in Belarus. Both carriers denied the allegations.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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Belavia aircraft leasing contracts from EU lessors will end as soon as the bloc finalises its new round of sanctions against Belarus, says Ireland’s foreign minister.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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sn26567 wrote: 16 Nov 2021, 17:16 Belavia aircraft leasing contracts from EU lessors will end as soon as the bloc finalises its new round of sanctions against Belarus, says Ireland’s foreign minister.
Belavia announced that because of the sanctions, it reduced its aircraft fleet to 15, and by the summer season, it will replenish its fleet by purchasing aircraft in ownership and leasing from non-EU residents.

Belavia said that the new restrictions of the EU will not affect the ability to operate the flights that are already planned in the current schedule.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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Belarus will take similar measures against EU and UK air carriers, in response to EU sanctions against Belavia.
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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The U.S. charged four Belarus officials with piracy in the forced landing of an airliner in Minsk, where an opposition journalist was seized.

https://www.aviation24.be/miscellaneous ... -may-2021/
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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Update by Politico.eu: "Inside the control room of Belarus’ hijacked Ryanair flight":
https://www.politico.eu/article/belarus ... trol-room/

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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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ICAO has just published its report on the incident, a 96-page document that reads like a thriller.

https://t.co/Pri9kqLhUT
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Re: Belarus forces diversion to Minsk of Ryanair flight carrying a dissident in order to arrest him

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sn26567 wrote: 02 Jan 2023, 23:46 ICAO has just published its report on the incident, a 96-page document that reads like a thriller.

https://t.co/Pri9kqLhUT
A lot of information came from the air traffic controller who taped on his private phone the conversations between the tower, the Ryanair plane and persons present in the tower, including a Belarusian KGB officer. The ATCo has now left the country and might be hiding in the US.

The Ryanair pilot might have made a mistake by not pulling the CVR circuit breaker after landing in Minsk, thus erasing some of the cockpit conversations.

Here are the conclusions of the lengthy report:

5. CONCLUSIONS AND MISSING INFORMATION

5.1. As stated in paragraph 3.1 e) of its Terms of Reference, the FFIT was expected to “identify pieces of information potentially missing and that would be necessary to complete the investigation”. As indicated in paragraph 1.5 above, some specific information, including critical information indicated in the Analysis section of this report as highlighted below, was requested but not made available to the Team. Considering the above, the Team’s conclusions below are based exclusively on the information availed to it as of the time of this report.

5.2. According to the authorities of Belarus, a first email was received at 09:25 UTC (12:25 local) followed by a second email at 09:56:45 UTC (12:56:45 local), both containing identical information about the bomb threat. On the other hand, information obtained from Switzerland through the authorities of Lithuania shows that only the second email was sent to Minsk Airport at 09:56:45 UTC (12:56:45 local). The FFIT was not able to verify that the first email was effectively received at 09:25 UTC (12:25 local) as the authorities of Belarus did not provide logs of the email server airport.by nor the email files containing the threat messages saved in their original format including their metadata, citing their erasure in accordance with their data retention policy. The receipt of the first email is crucial to explain the basis for the communication of the bomb threat by Minsk ACC to the flight crew, which occurred at 09:30:49 UTC (12:30:49 local). In the absence of the first email, it could be presumed that the information about the bomb threat would have been obtained by the authorities of Belarus by other means, which the FFIT could not establish. If the first email was in fact received at Minsk Airport, the diversion of the flight to Minsk Airport could be considered to be a tenable option in view of the circumstances.

5.3. The FFIT could not corroborate the information provided by the authorities of Belarus regarding the transmission by phone of the contents of the threat email from airport personnel to Minsk ACC personnel leading to the notification of the threat to RYR 1TZ. As cellular phone records of the personnel involved documenting the time and duration of the calls and person or entity contacted were not made available, those statements could not be supported by evidence.

5.4. As neither a bomb nor evidence of its existence was found during pre-departure screening in Athens Greece and after various searches of the aircraft in Belarus and Lithuania, it is considered that the bomb threat was deliberately false. Knowingly communicating false information which endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight is an offence under Article 1 (1) (e) of the Montréal Convention.

5.5. Prior to the issuance of the report in January 2022, the FFIT was neither able to meet with, nor interview the Minsk ACC controller who was assigned to the RYR 1TZ flight. The authorities of Belarus informed the Team that this individual did not report for duty after his summer leave and that they had no information on his whereabouts and no way to contact him. Subsequently, with the assistance of the authorities of the United States, the FFIT gained access to interview the controller whose testimony materially contradicts the information and materials provided by the authorities of Belarus about the events of 23 May 2021 including with regard to the email as the origin of the bomb threat information, and reflects the involvement of an unidentified individual who had been given access to the Minsk ACC.

5.6. The authorities of Belarus did not provide the FFIT information demonstrating that attempts were made to contact the Operator (RYR or RYS) for the purposes of meeting the obligations contained in Annex 11, 2.24.3 and Belarus ATM Aviation Regulations, 15.12.9. to exchange information with the operator or its designated representative.

5.7. Communications were not established between the flight crew and the OCC during the flight when such communications would have been necessary in line with the operator's procedures. Had such communications between the flight crew and the OCC been established it would have impacted the course of events.

5.8. Video recordings from cameras located adjacent to aircraft parking stand 1 and inside the terminal which could have shown certain significant activities regarding the processing of passengers from the point of disembarkation and in the terminal building were not provided to the FFIT. Although short extracts of the said video recordings had been used in a documentary-type video that was shared with the Team, the authorities of Belarus explained that not all recordings were available due to the length of time that had elapsed since the event. The FFIT was not provided with a satisfactory rationale to explain why records had not been preserved considering that criminal and other investigations in respect of the event had been initiated by the authorities of Belarus and had not been completed.

5.9. Inter-flight-crew coordination conversations that led to their decision to divert to Minsk Airport could not be fully confirmed since the CVR circuit breaker was not pulled after landing in Minsk. As a result, the full flight-crew conversations, prior to the period when the aircraft was on short final to Minsk Airport, were not preserved.

5.10. From the evidence provided by Belarus, no escort or intercept occurred between the MIG-29 and RYR 1TZ and no communications by the MIG-29 was recorded on the radio channels used by RYR 1TZ According to information provided by the flight crew and cabin crew, there was no communication, interaction, visual sighting or other knowledge of military aircraft involvement with the flight.

5.11. Some of the States connected to the event have issued formal requests to other States for information and assistance in connection with criminal and other investigations into the event. Such investigations could assist in establishing any missing facts relating to the event. In this regard, States and entities that have received such formal requests should be encouraged to respond as appropriate.
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