MOSCOW —Russia said Friday that Western countries were being irresponsible and endangering passengers by banning flights over Belarus in response to President Alexander Lukashenko’s forced grounding of a Ryanair flight.
“What the West has done by introducing a ban on flights through Belarusian airspace for political reasons is completely irresponsible and endangers the safety of passengers,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.
Belarus sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying opposition activist Roman Protasevich, 26.
Protasevich, who helped organize historic d…
Keep on reading: Russia says ‘irresponsible’ Belarus flight ban ‘endangers’ passengers