US, Europe Weigh Sanctions After Belarus Diverts Plane and Arrests Journalist

Security use a sniffer dog to check the luggage of passengers on the Ryanair plane with registration number SP-RSM, carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich which was traveling from Athens to Vilnius and was diverted to Minsk after a bomb threat, in Minsk International Airport in Belarus on May 23, 2021. ONLINER.BY via AP

U.S. and European officials said they are coordinating sanctions against Belarus after its authorities arrested a prominent opposition journalist from a plane diverted to the country with a bomb alert on Monday.

The flight, from Irish budget airline Ryanair, was on its way to Vilnius, Lithuania, from Athens, Greece, when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a fighter jet to escort it to land in Minsk.