The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has so far failed to provide Minsk with any documents related to the diversion of a Ryanair plane by Belarus in spring, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2021) The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has so far failed to provide Minsk with any documents related to the diversion of a Ryanair plane by Belarus in spring, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said on Thursday.
"We asked them (ICAO) to provide us with a number of materials linked to the conversations of the (plane) crew with Vilnius and Warsaw airports, and with Ryanair owners but have not yet received these materials. We asked for assistance in obtaining information from the so-called 'black boxes,' where these conversations are also clearly recorded. Nothing. We have not received any documents," Makei said in an interview with Sputnik.
The ICAO report, which was supposed to be prepared in September, was not prepared neither in September nor in October, the diplomat noted.
He recalled that the organization had already rescheduled the consideration of a probe into the incident from November 12 to January. Minsk has received information that the discussions will be further postponed to February, the minister added.
"That is an attempt to delay the process of considering Belarus's complaint. Perhaps they hope that they will be able to find some information compromising Belarus during this time. But our conscience is clear," Makei said.
On May 23, Belarus diverted a Ryanair plane traveling from Greece to Lithuania to Minsk over a bomb threat that turned out to have been fake. Two passengers aboard the aircraft, Roman Protasevich, a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel (labeled as extremist in Belarus), and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, who is suspected of publishing the private data of Belarusian security services officers, were detained during the stopover at the airport.
The incident prompted a harsh reaction from the European Union, which imposed sanctions on Belarus. The ICAO Council has launched a fact-finding investigation into allegations of Belarus violating flight security protocols by diverting the plane.
