US Bans Air Travel to Belarus Over Arrest of Opposition Journalist

Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich attends a news conference at the National Press Center of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Minsk, Belarus, on June 14, 2021. Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA pool photo via AP

The United States has formally banned air travel to Belarus in response to the diversion of a flight and subsequent arrest by the country’s regime in Minsk of an opposition journalist.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a final order (pdf) on July 6 prohibiting U.S. and foreign air carriers from selling tickets to Belarus, with exceptions to be made for “any transportation deemed to be in the national interest of the United States, including on humanitarian or national security grounds.”