U.S. Department of Transportation prohibits sale of airline tickets to Belarus following incident with Ryanair plane
MINSK, Jul 8 - PrimePress. U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled prohibiting the sale of airline tickets to Belarus because of the incident with the Ryanair plane, the Department says in the official ordinance.<br> <br> The sale of all passenger airline tickets from the U.S. to Belarus, including connecting flights, will be stopped. The ban applies to both national and foreign carriers.<br> <br> The ban may not apply to any transportation deemed to be in the national interest of the United States, including on humanitarian and national security grounds.<br> <br> This measure was announced on July 2, 2021 with no objections from the U.S. Administration since then. It takes effect on July 7, the Department of Transportation says.<br> <br> As previously reported, on May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair plane that took off from Athens made an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport after a reported bomb threat. A MiG-29 fighter jet alert crew was scrambled to escort the plane. After the landing, the plane was inspected and no bomb was found on board. The Belarusian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into a false bomb alert. Among the passengers on that flight was Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel recognized as extremist in Belarus. He is charged under three articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus and is on the international wanted list. European countries said Minsk had forced the aircraft to land at its airport under an invented pretext. Some airlines decided to fly bypassing Belarusian airspace. The EU Council also banned the use of the airspace and airports of the European Union by Belarusian air carriers. End <br> <br>
2021-07-08
Primepress