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Operation of the Belarusian KGB. New facts about the Ryanair flight

09.12.2021

The Internal Security Agency (ABW), under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office, is carrying out an investigation into the 23 May 2021 forced landing at the Minsk airport of a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, with Roman Protasevich on board. In the course of the investigation some passengers and the airlines’ representatives have been heard, the plane has been examined, recordings have been analysed and some other evidence has been secured. During the proceedings, a report and materials from a first-hand witness of the actions taken on that day at the control tower in Minsk have also been gathered.

Fot. arch.

The evidence shows that on 23 May, an officer of the Belarusian KGB was present in the operations room during the work of the air-traffic control tower. At a key moment he took control over the work of an air-traffic controller. He gave instructions to the staff member who had the contact with the pilot. It was the officer who gave commands and made decisions concerning landing in Minsk. At the same time, the KGB officer was in phone contact with someone to whom he reported what was happening with the plane. It must be underlined, that taking control over a traffic control tower by a special services agent is something unprecedented, exceeding regulations and practice. 

Thanks to the operations carried out during the Polish investigation, the course of events at the Minsk airport has been established and documented. It has been also established that there was no bomb threat for the flight, which can be proved by the fact that the first information concerning the threat had been provided to the pilot before sending of an email, which was referred to during the conversation, about the alleged explosives on board. Also actions at the Minsk airport, including behaviour of the emergency services and the airport staff indicated that there was no threat about which the traffic control informed the pilot. All the situation was provoked by the Belarusian side in order to force landing in Minsk.

We were faced with the operation of the Alexander Lukashenko’s regime who, thanks to the described actions, including threatening and terrorizing the pilot, forced landing of a civilian flight in order to detain a dissident who was on board. For the purpose of this Belarusian special services’ operation, a perception was created that there was of a bomb threat to a civilian aircraft.

Spokesperson for the Minister Coordinator of Special Services

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