Air traffic controller Oleg Galegov, who urgently landed a plane in Minsk with the opposition Belarusian blogger Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Russian woman Sofia Sapega, on board, testified to the Polish authorities. About it informs The New York Times.
According to sources of the publication in the European special services, Galegov illegally crossed the Belarusian-Polish border in the summer. In Warsaw, he contacted the US Embassy, but there he was referred to the Polish authorities. The Belarusian air traffic controller told them that the plane with Protasevich was forced to land in Minsk as a result of the operation of the State Security Committee of Belarus. According to him, at the time of the incident, the KGB officer took control of the air traffic control service.
The head of the Polish National Security Department Stanislav Zharyn said that the Polish investigators managed to “obtain a direct witness report of the actions at the control tower in Minsk.” According to this testimony, there was a Belarusian KGB officer who “at the decisive moment took control of the air traffic control service.” During the entire time of the hijacking of the plane with Protasevich, this officer “maintained continuous telephone contact with someone to whom he informed about what was happening with the plane at the moment,” Zharyn said.
According to The New York Times, the dispatcher has already left Poland, where he is now, is not specified.
On May 23, the plane of the Irish company Ryanair, flying from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to land in Minsk in connection with information about mining, which later turned out to be false. According to the head of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, the pilots were informed about a “serious threat” of a bomb explosion if the airliner enters Lithuanian airspace. At the same time, Belarusian air traffic controllers deceived the plane to land in other Baltic countries or Poland. The Boeing 737 was operated by the Polish subsidiary of the Irish airline Ryanair.
Later it turned out that the plane was planted by order of the Belarusian authorities in order to detain the founder of the telegram channel Nexta Roman Protasevich, who covered and coordinated the protest actions in Belarus, and his girlfriend, a Russian citizen, Sofia Sapega, who were on board. Criminal cases were opened against them for organizing mass riots in Minsk and inciting social hostility towards representatives of the authorities.
In June, after Protasevich’s speeches criticizing the opposition were shown on Belarusian television several times, he and Sapieha were transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest.
Recently, Sapieha was presented with the final charges under the article “incitement to hatred.” The Russian woman faces up to six years in prison.
The circumstances of the detention of Protasevich and Sapieha drew sharp criticism in the West. The incident was called the hijacking and kidnapping. New sanctions were introduced against Minsk.
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