Several airlines are set to redirect their flights away from Belarusian airspace after Belarusian authorities diverted a RyanAir flight flying from Greece to Lithuania in order to arrest a dissident journalist.
Belarusian air traffic control diverted the flight by warning of a possible bomb on board before scrambling a MiG fighter jet to guide the plane into Minsk airport where police were waiting to remove journalist Roman Protasevich.
Protasevich’s Nexta news agency was active in organising protests against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko after Lukashenko won elections last year which are widely regarded to have been rigged.