In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, they called for Europe to discuss ways to resolve the situation in Belarus with Russia. This was announced by the Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry Clement Bon, the French TV channel BFM TV reports.
Diplomat said that the dialogue with Moscow should be held as part of the Organization for Safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He also stressed that the country’s authorities support the expansion of sanctions against the Belarusian side due to the incident with the airline Ryanair airline.
“We must exercise the necessary hardness against Minsk,” concluded Bon. According to him, the political situation in the country is concerned about the European Union.
Diplomat noted that Paris does not exclude the complete closure of airspace over Belarus for European aircraft. “We will take all measures to eliminate the danger to European citizens during flights,” he added. It is noted that on board the aircraft who committed an emergency landing in Minsk was 9 French.
Earlier, the head of the international diplomacy of the EU Josep Borrel demanded an international investigation of the incident with the Ryanair aircraft in Minsk.
On May 23, the airline Ryanair, who followed the route Athena-Vilnius, made an emergency landing in Minsk after mining reports. On board the creator of the Telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich was detained. The head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Layen called this incident unacceptable. Lithuanian President Gitanas Bested demanded to release Protasevich and called on NATO and the EU allies immediately respond to the “threat of international civil aviation on the part of the Belarusian regime.”