Protasevich a terrorist, planned bloody uprising: Belarus Prez

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had defended a decision to force the landing of a Ryanair passenger plane with a dissident journalist on board. The forced landing on Sunday has been sharply condemned by members of NATO as well as the UN Security Council, reports dpa news agency.

Authorities used Sunday's landing to have dissident Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich (pic) 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.

"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 onboard.

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 is an absolute lie," said Lukashenko. Belarus acted for safety reasons, he said, because the plane flew over the country's nuclear power plant. 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".

Protasevich and his partner, Sofia Sapega, should be released and there should be an "urgent independent investigation", it added..

Many current and former members of the UN Security Council have condemned the act.

"It constitutes a new and extremely dangerous phase in the Belarus authorities' campaign of repression against its own people," said a statement from the UN representation of Estonia, supported by France, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Britain and the US. The Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected "baseless and false" western speculations on Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ryanair flight diversion incident, adding that no Russian citizens left the aircraft after the emergency landing in Minsk. Despite the fact that only three days have passed since the landing and with no available results in relation to the investigation in the case, Western officials have quickly and "unanimously" drawn conclusions, Xinhua news agency quoted Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.