LUKASHENKO CLAIMS ACTIVIST SNATCHED FROM PLANE A ‘TERRORIST’

Belarus' long-time president, Alexander Lukashenko, on Wednesday defended his internationally slammed decision to force the landing this weekend of a passenger plane with a dissident journalist on board.

"I acted lawfully by protecting people - according to all international rules," Lukashenko told the parliament in Minsk, Ulf Mauder reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Authorities used Sunday's landing to have dissident Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich arrested at the airport in Minsk. Protasevich is a "terrorist," added Lukashenko, who said the 26-year-old blogger was planning a "bloody uprising" in Belarus.

The activist’s mother feared Lukashenko would kill her son.

"There was a terrorist on board the plane," he said, claiming that it was his country's sovereign right to detain its own citizens.

Lukashenko initially said, without elaborating, that Belarus had received information that there was an explosive device on the plane. Therefore, he said, the plane, which was on its way to Lithuania from Greece, was diverted to Minsk with the assistance of a fighter jet.

"That the plane was forced to land by a MiG-29 fighter jet is an absolute lie!" said Lukashenko. Belarus acted for safety reasons, he said, because the plane flew over the country's nuclear power plant.

The European Union has launched new sanctions against the power apparatus in Belarus because of the action, including a landing ban for former Soviet republic's airlines and sanctions on leadership.

NATO condemned the action on Wednesday. The body's North Atlantic Council said the "unacceptable act seriously violated the norms governing civil aviation and endangered the lives of the passengers and crew."

Pratasevich and his partner, Sofia Sapega, should be released and there should be an "urgent independent investigation," the council said.

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