Ryanair Flight 4978 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Athens International Airport, Greece, to Vilnius Airport, Lithuania. On 23 May 2021, explosives were falsely reported on board the aircraft as it neared Lithuanian airspace.[1] The aircraft was forced to land by a Belarusian fighter jet when it was over Belarusian airspace. It landed at Minsk National Airport,[2] on the orders of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.[3]
Once the aircraft was on the ground, two of its passengers, opposition activist and journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested.[4][5]
On August 9, 2021, head of the Minsk National Airport Vyacheslav Khoroneko was put in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List [en] of the USA.[6] He got a punishment as a person who made it possible to land the flight there.[7]
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