Acting on the instructions of Minister Luigi Di Maio, Deputy Minister Benedetto Della Vedova summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Belarus to the Foreign Ministry, today, in connection with the extremely serious episode of the diversion of the Athens-Vilnius commercial flight operated by Ryanair, which resulted in the temporary kidnapping of 149 passengers.
As reported in a statement. The Deputy Minister condemned this inadmissible act in the clearest terms, as constituting a very serious violation of international aviation safety standards, for which Belarus will be called to account. In this regard, Italy has already entered into discussions with its partners at today’s European Council meeting, in view of the adoption of response measures proportionate to the seriousness of the incident. Similar initiatives are being taken in multilateral fora. Mr. Della Vedova also called for the immediate release of Mr. Roman Protasevich and his partner: Italy will continue to spare no effort to obtain the immediate release of all political prisoners.
