Diversion of Ryanair flight 'breached all the international aviation rules’

The diversion of a Ryanair flight to Belarus, allowing a prominent critic to be arrested, was a “premeditated breach of all the international aviation rules”, according to the airline’s boss Michael O’Leary. Ryanair flight FR4978 from Greece to Lithuania on May 23 changed course to head for the Belarus capital Minsk escorted by a MiG fighter jet. The Foreign Office has previously said the plane was grounded “on the basis of a false bomb scare” in order to arrest an opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich.