Greece closes airspace for planes from Belarus

The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) banned national air carriers from operating flights to Belarus, and also closed the country’s airspace for aircraft flying from Belarus. About it reported local publication Pentapostagma, citing the NCAA statement.

According to the publication, the decision was made amid growing concerns about the possible participation of Belarus in a special military operation in Ukraine.

In early October, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko declaredthat Belarus takes part in a special operation, but does not send its military there. “As for our participation in the special military operation in Ukraine, we are participating there. We don’t hide it. But we don’t kill anyone. We don’t send our military anywhere. We are not violating our obligations,” he said.

In addition, on October 10, Lukashenka informed on the deployment of a joint regional grouping of troops, he agreed on this with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As part of this decision, he instructed to place a small part of the Russian military on the territory of the republic. Lukashenko also pointed to the threat to Belarus from Ukraine. According to him, Ukraine works over the opening of a second front on the border with the republic.

The EU banned Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc countries back in June last year after an incident with a Ryanair plane that made an emergency landing in Minsk. The EU also recommended that European carriers refuse to fly in the airspace of Belarus. More than 20 countries have closed their airspace for the Belarusian air carrier.

The Ryanair plane, flying on May 23 from Athens to Vilnius, while crossing the territory of Belarus, was forced to make an emergency landing at Minsk airport due to a report of mining, which was subsequently not confirmed.