Russia is demonstrating common sense in the matter of international air traffic, for which Belarus is grateful, Andrei Khudyk, the Belarusian natural resources minister, said on Friday
ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2021) Russia is demonstrating common sense in the matter of international air traffic, for which Belarus is grateful, Andrei Khudyk, the Belarusian natural resources minister, said on Friday.
"Let me express gratitude to the Russian Federation for the support and common sense that the Russian side is currently demonstrating, taking into account the interests of our states," the minister said at an international climate congress.
On Sunday, a Ryanair flight en route from Athens to Vilnius had to make an emergency landing in Belarus' Minsk over a bomb threat, which turned out to be fake. One of its passengers, Roman Protasevich, the founder of a Telegram channel that Minsk has designated as extremist, was detained during the stopover at the airport.
The incident prompted outrage from the EU, which suspended flights of Belarusian carriers and recommended its airlines to avoid flying over Belarus.
After the EU's decision to bypass Belarus, flights from several European capitals, including Paris and Vienna, to Moscow were canceled as carriers received no permit from the Russian aviation authorities to reroute the flights. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, blamed the disruptions on technical issues, expressing his conviction that the necessary clarification would be forthcoming.
