The White House has announced that the United States will reimpose sanctions on Belarus next week after the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to the country on May 23 and the arrest of an opposition journalist on board.
On Thursday, Psaki said, the US will reimpose “full blocking restrictions” against nine Belarusian state-owned firms, prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.
The State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Belarus, while the Federal Aviation Administration has advised airlines to “exercise extreme caution when considering flying in Belarusian airspace.”
Last weekend, while flying from Greece to Lithuania, a European airplane, Ryanair, was diverted to Minsk due to a rumored bomb on board. Security officials detained Roman Protasevich, co-founder of the NEXTA social media news station, which was instrumental in organizing resistance to the autocratic government, and his Russian girlfriend on the ground.
Belarus has been accused of “hijacking” a civilian airliner, despite Belarusian authorities’ claims that they were responding to a genuine bomb threat and trying to protect the passengers. Protasevich and his girlfriend are still being held in detention.