France is ready to put further pressure on Belarus in cooperation with its partners within the European Union if Minsk's "irresponsible" behavior calls for it, the French Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2022) France is ready to put further pressure on Belarus in cooperation with its partners within the European Union if Minsk's "irresponsible" behavior calls for it, the French Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
"France along with its partners in the European Union stands ready to further increase pressure against Belarus depending on its behavior," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
In response to a question about a report by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) into the May 23 Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania, which was forced to land in Minsk over a false bomb threat, the spokesperson recalled that France and its partners have already imposed restrictive measures against Minsk, including a ban on Belarusian carriers flying in European airspace, and sanctions against individuals and entities suspected to have played a role in the Ryanair controversy.
After the emergency landing in Minsk, the Belarusian services arrested two passengers on the flight - Roman Protasevich, a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel (labeled as extremist in Belarus), and his girlfriend, Russian national Sofia Sapega, on charges of releasing the private data of Belarusian security officers into the public domain.
On Monday, the ICAO revealed to its 193 member states a report of its fact-finding investigation into alleged violations by Minsk in the Ryanair incident.
