International Anger Building after Forced Landing

GMF Senior Fellow and Director for Central and Eastern Europe Jörg Forbrig joined Deutsche Welle News to discuss Belarus’s move of diverting a plane flying over its territory to arrest opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. Forbrig stated that “the primary effect that the Belarusian regime wanted to achieve with this stunt, this terrorist act, is to induce that sense of uncertainty with all those who are in exile and continuing their fight from there.”

Speaking to Russia’s role, Forbrig noted that it is very unclear at this stage and that all of this will need to be subject to an investigation. He noted that it is known though that three individuals traveling with Russian passports, and one with a Belarusian passport, went off the plane in Minsk.

Asked if EU for sanctions against Belarus could be separated from sanctions against Russia, Forbrig said it could not. In his view, Lukashenko’s repressions against his critics were only possible because he has the backing of Russia, including political and financial, and media support. According to Forbrig, the EU has focused his actions against the Belarusian regime but has been very cautious in relation to Russia. In his view though, Russia should be held “co-responsible for the Belarusian crisis and the massive toll it has taken so far on the Belarusian population.”