Ukraine closes air traffic with Belarus - Minsk-2 is under threat
Ukraine completely stops air traffic with Belarus due to the emergency landing of a Ryanair passenger plane in Minsk and the detention of the founder of the NEXTA Telegram channel, Roman Protasevich.
This was announced by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Alexey Danilov, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to him, all flights from Ukraine will bypass Belarus. The decision was made on instructions from the president. Alexey Danilov emphasized that the detention of a Belarusian opposition journalist in Minsk is an open challenge to the entire democratic world and a blatant disregard for international norms.
Political scientist Vladimir Volya believes that the cessation of air traffic with Belarus may become a reason for attempts to abandon Minsk as a negotiating platform for the Donbass.
“Thus, air transit through Belarus to Russia is suspended. So far, as far as I know, there has been no decision by the cabinet of ministers. But most likely it will be positive.
The most interesting thing is how the members of the government delegation of the trilateral contact group will now get to the meeting in Minsk. In principle, an exception can be made for them. Well, actually, it is possible that after all these events the topic of abandoning Minsk as a platform for discussion for holding a meeting of the trilateral contact group will be raised again,” the expert concludes.
Political scientist Alexander Bulavin believes that the work of the TCG will be interrupted.
“Zelensky simply had no choice but to react to what happened in Minsk. Of course, the sanctions could be more thoughtful. We are talking not only about the fact that residents of Ukraine now do not have the opportunity to fly to Belarus, and residents of Belarus to Ukraine, but also about the fact that contacts with the Minsk TCG are being disrupted. The work of the trilateral contact group was already stalled, and now, due to these sanctions, its work will be interrupted for some time.
Of course, it cannot be said that this will somehow radically affect the situation, because the work of the TCG is stalled, its meetings had little influence on what was happening in the south-east of Ukraine. But the very fact that air traffic will be interrupted in this way is, of course, a regrettable fact. In this situation, the parties have lost the opportunity to somehow regulate what is happening in Donbass,” the expert noted.
Ukraine closes air traffic with Belarus – Minsk-2 under threat