Lukashenko Explained Why The Ryanair Plane Was Grounded In Minsk And Protasevich Was Detained

It was reported to the dictator that there was "his man" on board.

When detaining former editor of NEXTA Roman Protasevich, for whom the Ryanair airplane flying to Vilnius in 2021 was grounded in Minsk, the Belarusian law enforcers acted according to the instructions. At the same time, it was already known that he was "his own man. Alexander Lukashenko told about it in his message at the "All-Belarusian People's Assembly" on December 18.

- "Here, Roman Protasevich was seized, they landed the plane to arrest him. All I did was try to explain: the plane was flying over Vilnius. It was over Vilnius. Landing it there was a bomb threat. Why did you turn around from Vilnius, fly from the south and start landing this plane in Belarus? The military reported to me: "Our man is sitting there." Now it is known that he is indeed our man, but sanctions have been imposed against us. And they report to me, and I think: "God, what to do?" We don't need him to sit in Minsk - we need to go to Vilnius," said Lukashenko.

Then, according to him, he told law enforcement officers to "raise all the instructions and act according to them."

- They planted him in Minsk, did everything, and then Tertel (head of the KGB Ivan Tertel. - Editor's note.) I said: "Arrest him as an enemy of the people. That was the meaning of the operation," explained the dictator.

According to Lukashenko's words, these were the arguments he gave to the U.S. representatives, convincing them to lift sanctions against Belavia:

- We have imposed sanctions. So you apologize now and lift them. Not because there is our man in the airplane, whom we had to arrest, but because you were wrong. We did everything by the book. But what was your plan, we still don't know," said the dictator.

On October 31, Lukashenko said that former NEXTA editor Roman Protasevich was employee of the Belarusian intelligence and was working undercover in 2021.

The other day it became known that Roman had found a new job - now he hosts the propaganda program "No Cover" on the state TV channel STV.

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