The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration closely follows the situation concerning the forced landing in Minks of the Athens – Vilnius flight, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Ministry. The Ministry supports foreign partners’ calls to open an independent investigation so as to elucidate all the circumstances of the incident, including the arrest of a Belarusian journalist.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration reiterates the Republic of Moldova’s consistent position to encourage the respecting by all the members of the international community of the norms and rules of international law,” runs the press release.

Also, the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Vilnius informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that there was no Moldovan aboard.

Journalist Roman Protasevich, co-founder the opposition channel Nexta of Belarus, was arrested last Sunday after the Athens – Vilnius plane on which he flied was redirected to Minsk by the Belarusian authorities for examining an alleged bomb scare. The leaders of a number of EU member states and NATO leaders asked to investigate the redirecting of the RyanAir flight to Minsk.