On 23 May 2021, a passenger plane flying from Greece to Lithuania was forced to land in Minsk and a Belarusian journalist, Roman Protasevich, was detained. 

Western countries have condemned Belarus for diverting a passenger flight over its territory to arrest an opposition journalist. The Greek Prime Minister reacted immediately and called for the immediate release of all the passengers, who arrived in Lithuania after seven hours on the ground. In addition, the Greek Foreign Minister condemned the incident, describing it as a ‘state hijacking’.

According to state media in Belarus, the order for the diversion of the flight was given directly by the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. This has been the latest incident of a series of human rights violations committed by Lukashenko. 

The Permanent Representative of Denmark to the OSCE, Ambassador Rene Dinesen, delivered a statement to the OSCE calling for an investigation into the violations of human rights in Belarus. In addition, European Union leaders have agreed on a new set of sanctions to be imposed on Minsk.