Today's D Brief: Jetliner forced down in Minsk; Blinken to Mideast; Russia’s JADC2; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson
May 24, 2021 10:46 AM ET
The D Brief
A Belarussian jet forced a passenger airliner to land in Minsk so authorities could arrest a journalist on board. The air force claimed it had knowledge there was a bomb threat on the plane, which was flying from Greece to Lithuania, in what the Associated Press called “a brazen show of force by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled with an iron fist for over a quarter-century.”
The apparent target of the forced landing: Raman Pratasevich, who is “a 26-year-old activist and journalist who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against the authoritarian leader,” AP reports. “He and his Russian girlfriend were led off the plane shortly after landing — and authorities haven’t said where they’re being held.”
“State-sponsored hijacking” is what RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary called the events this weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal. “The incident has sparked an international outcry and raised questions over the legality of the plane’s grounding and the ramifications for the airline industry,” the Journal reports.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/05/the-d-brief-may-24-2021/174245/
