FAKE NEWS: The Protasevich incident was planned by the West

The case of the Ryanair plane forced to land in Minsk, where a journalist on board was arrested, gave rise to a wave of false narratives in Belarus and Russia. Some are bordering on the absurd - the West has been accused of organizing the incident as a provocation - while others are just aimed at slightly changing the context in order to clear Minsk, which says, for example, that it did not force the crew to land.

NEWS: "There has been no pressure from Belarusian traffic controllers for the Ryanair crew to make an emergency landing at Minsk National Airport, said Artem Sikorski, Director of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications [...] The decision was made by the crew”.

"Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei called the reaction of Western politicians to the situation with the Ryanair plane a planned provocation […]" Not specialists, I emphasize, but Western political uncles and aunties who have power and leverage, literally within 10- 15 minutes after receiving the information about this plane incident, already started making relevant political statements. Of course, bringing accusations against Belarus. This is an alarming situation, and we take it as a coordinated action and a  planned provocation […] ", Vladimir Makei said."

"At a meeting with parliamentarians, members of the Constitutional Commission and government officials, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko commented on the Athens-Vilnius incident and revealed new details," BelTA reports. "What should we do, especially against the background of a cascade of bomb threats at our facilities?" You live in Belarus and you know: every day there are threats to schools, universities and businesses [...] ", Alexander Lukashenko said. The president also stated that in the case of the Athens-Vilnius flight, the threat message was received from abroad - from Switzerland.

Moreover, the message reached the airports of Athens, Vilnius and Minsk at the same time. The Belarusian side promptly informed the plane's crew in accordance with international standards. "Because at that moment the plane had crossed the border of Belarus and was in our airspace. We informed the pilots and we had to make it public.  Whether it was Hamas or not - it doesn't matter today. The crew had time to make a decision [...]Wasn’t Chernobyl enough for us? And how would the United States react to such a situation, given their sad experience? "- the head of state asked rhetorically."

NARRATIVES: 1. Belarus did not force the Ryanair plane to land, the decision being made by the crew. 2. The Belarussian authorities reacted in accordance with international rules and customs, as other countries would have done, including the United States. 3. The incident was planned by the West. 4. Belarus could not stage the incident, as the threat came from a foreign e-mail account and was sent to Athens and Vilnius as well. 4. Protasevich is a terrorist who has links with the "fascists of the AZOV battalion"

LOCAL CONTEXT/ETHOS: On May 23, a plane flying from Athens to Vilnius through the Belarusian airspace was forced to land in Minsk after being intercepted by a MiG-29 fighter. The Belarusian authorities claimed an alleged bomb threat, which has not been proven so far; moreover, the Hamas group, accused of making the threat, has categorically denied it. The authoritarian leader in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko, has stated the bomb threat came from Switzerland from the address: ahmed_yurlanov1988@protonmail.com, and the West does not want to investigate the case. The Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office has announced that it is conducting an investigation into Belarus' violation of international law in this case, and the Polish Prosecutor General's Office has ordered an investigation into the crime of "using deception and threats to gain control of the aircraft and detain its passengers "

Opposition journalist Roman Protasevici, one of the founders of the NEXTA Telegram channel, was on board the plane. NEXTA informed its readers about the protests in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election, which brought Lukashenko a new term at the helm of the country but were not recognized by the opposition and the West due to massive rigging. In fact, against the background of the West’s condemnation, Minsk launched a disinformation campaign, accusing him of being behind the protests and attempted coups

Along with Protasevich, his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega - a Russian citizen - was also detained. Authorities in Minsk accuse Protasevich of masterminding opposition protests. Lukashenko has also said that Protasevich is a terrorist who fought in the Donbass alongside the Azov battalion, a unit of volunteers whose members were accused of having Nazi sympathies.

A few hours after the journalist’s arrest, a video was shown on a pro-government Telegram channel, in which Protasevich admits the accusations brought against him, but the journalist’s relatives say that he was tortured to make the recording.

Belarus has been accused of state terrorism and the EU and other Western countries have recommended air companies to suspend their flights over Belarus.

PURPOSE: To cover up for and justify the abuses committed by the Lukashenko regime and to blame the West.

WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The Ryanair plane was practically forced to land in Minsk with the help of a fighter that intercepted it. It is true that, over time, several countries have sent fighter jets to intercept civilian aircraft, but this has generally happened when those aircraft had communication problems and lost contact with the ground, and were therefore potential threats to civilian sites, given that on 11 September 2001 civilian planes captured by terrorists were used as weapons. Moreover, the Belarusian authorities did not limit themselves to an alleged search of the plane for a bomb, but detained two people on board, while three others - alleged KGB agents who apparently followed Protasevich - remained in Minsk. The claim that the e-mail server is foreign, which would clear Belarus, is ridiculous, given that e-mails can be accessed from anywhere in the world and that no details are known about who sent the e-mail. Hamas, which was initially accused of being behind the threat, has denied any involvement. Protasevich went to Donbass, but as a journalist, not as a fighter, as the Azov leader himself stated.