Ryanair

The UN civil aviation agency will hold an urgent meeting Thursday (27 May) to discuss Belarus after Western powers on the UN Security Council called for the body to investigate Minsk's diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident.

Low-cost airline Ryanair will resume its flights to/from Plovdiv Airport from/to London Stansted on June 4. They will be performed twice a week - on Mondays and Fridays, respectively from 9:20 pm and 12:25 pm Bulgarian time, Plovdiv Airport reported on their website.

The United States and western European members of the U.N. Security Council called on May 26 for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to investigate Belarus' diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident on board.

Their call came hours after a defiant President Alexander Lukashenko on May 26 defended the action, lashing out at critics at home and abroad.

The Belarusian leader said "ill-wishers" are "trying to strangle Belarus" in his first speech since a commercial flight was intercepted and a critical blogger arrested.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko hit out at Western powers on Wednesday, saying that his country's "ill-wishers" are "trying to strangle Belarus."

Despite the speculations about a Russian involvement in the forced landing of the Ryanair airliner in Minsk, given the importance of Russia, EU leaders who met in Brussels for a two-day summit decided to decouple the issues and concentrate on sanctioning Belarus.

Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was arrested on Sunday after Belarusian authorities diverted Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius of a possible bomb threat and forced it to land at an airport near Minsk.

Fears are growing that the Belarusian journalist who is well-known critic of President Lukashenko, has been subject to torture while in custody.

Restoring trust and stepping up bilateral dialogue with the Republic of North Macedonia feature among the priorities, outlined by caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev at a news conference here on Tuesday. 

There is growing international outrage against Belarus for what's being described as the 'hijacking' of a passenger plane carrying an opposition activist. The RyanAir flight from Athens was diverted and forced to land in Minsk, where Roman Protasevich was detained.

The diversion by Belarus of a Ryanair flight to a forced landing in Minsk was air piracy, Bulgaria's caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev said on May 25.

EU leaders completely rewrote the agenda of their summit discussions on Monday after learning with dismay that Belarus had forced a passenger plane carrying a wanted journalist to divert and land in its capital.