fact finder
The leadership and media in Russia reacted to the hijacking of the Ryanair plane to Minsk with well-known methods. So far, however, there is little evidence for Russian participation.
“Shocking” – this word was heard from both western Europe and Moscow in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk on Sunday. However, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry was not referring to the incident itself, but to the reactions of the West, which she criticized as hypocrisy.
The spokeswoman and German politicians such as Gregor Gysi and Andrej Hunko from the Left Party referred to the year 2013. At that time, Bolivian President Evo Morales had to make a stopover at Vienna Airport on his flight home from Moscow. Apparently, there was a suspicion that whistleblower and ex-US intelligence agent Edward Snowden was on board.
Apart from the fact that the media reported the incident at the time, sometimes with harsh criticism, the procedures and the associated risks differ significantly from one another.
In 2013, the President of Bolivia was traveling in a private plane. The stopover was necessary because France, Portugal and Italy refused him the right to overfly. After Austrian officials inspected the plane, Morales was able to continue flying. At the time, Snowden, who was wanted on a US arrest warrant, had been in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for more than a week. He had applied for asylum in several countries, including Bolivia.
“Scary Incident”
The incident on Sunday, on the other hand, involved a civilian aircraft with more than 170 passengers on board. The radical Islamic Palestinian organization immediately rejected the Minsk government’s claim of a bomb threat from Hamas. A few days after the ceasefire with Israel began, such a threat would have made little sense either.
In addition, a MiG-29 fighter jet escorted the Ryanair plane to Minsk. Flight radar recordings show that the machine was already on the border with Lithuania and Vilnius was closer than Minsk. According to experts, the Ryanair pilots had no choice. In the event of a suspected bomb threat on board, they would have to follow the instructions, said flight safety adviser John Cox. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the incident was “very frightening” for passengers and staff, who were held for hours by gunmen.
In this respect, equating both events distracts from the circumstances of the current case without helping the clarification. Russian actors have been using the rhetorical method of “whataboutism” for years to distract factual debates with bogus arguments. One case is the annexation of Crimea with reference to the independence of Kosovo.
confession in custody
Added to this is dealing with the blogger and activist Roman Protasevich, who was arrested with his girlfriend in Minsk, which was apparently the aim of the plane hijacking. Protazevich is a co-founder of the Nexta news channel on Telegram. Since the beginning of the protests against the presidential election in August 2020, this has played an important role as an alternative to state-controlled channels.
Yesterday they published a video with an alleged confession by Protasevich in custody: he had organized mass unrest in Minsk. His father expressed concern that he might have been forced to testify. “My son can’t admit to causing mass unrest because he just didn’t do anything like that,” he told Reuters.
Nexta is a young medium whose employees act as bloggers and activists. They also publish unchecked information, some of which later turns out to be incorrect. Nexta posted protest meeting points and advice for participants. But the demonstrations were largely peaceful. The police and special forces, on the other hand, use massive force. Thousands have been arrested, many of whom are serving prison sentences and are sometimes severely mistreated.
Rumors about Protasevich
In addition to the confession, rumors about Protasevich are circulating. He fought in eastern Ukraine, got involved with fascist organizations and wanted to instigate “color revolutions” organized by the West – another well-known method of discrediting and distraction. In fact, in September 2020, Protasevich told the well-known Russian blogger Yuri Dudd that he had spent a week in Kiev and later in Donbass during the Maidan protests. As a journalist, he wanted to look at the events on site. Protasevich received a “Vaclav-Havel” grant from the Czech Foreign Ministry.
Agents on board?
Opposition members see the kidnapping as retaliation and a signal sent out by ruler Alexander Lukashenko: “See what I’m capable of.” Applause came from Russia: RT boss Margarita Simonyan wrote on Twitter that she envies Belarus. It was a nice move by Lukashenko.
Opinions differ as to whether he acted with Vladimir Putin’s consent and support. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, for example, said it was hard to believe Russia hadn’t at least agreed.
Secret service expert Christo Grozev, however, was skeptical about Moscow’s participation. The Belarusian KGB has its own presence in Western Europe and does not trust the Russian FSB. The timing also speaks against Russia’s participation – the leadership around Putin is preparing for a meeting with US President Joe Biden. As announced today, it is to take place in Geneva in June.