EU to cut air links with Belarus after Ryanair flight diversion incident

Leaders of the European Union (EU) member states on Monday agreed to cut the bloc’s air links with Belarus following Sunday’s Ryanair flight diversion incident.

According to the conclusions of the special EU summit on Monday, the 27-member bloc strongly condemned the incident which endangered aviation safety and called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to urgently investigate “this unprecedented and unacceptable incident.”

Leaders of the member states urged the European Council to adopt the necessary measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines, prevent access to EU airports of Belarusian flights, and called on all EU-based carriers to avoid overflight of Belarus, according to the conclusions.