Authorities in Belarus have insisted they acted legally when they diverted a passenger plane carrying an opposition activist and have accused the West of making unfounded claims for political reasons.
The government of strongman Alexander Lukashenko provoked global fury on Sunday by pulling Ryanair flight FR4978 from its Athens-to-Vilnius route and arresting one of the passengers, opposition journalist and blogger Roman Protasevich, in Minsk.
Western leaders called it an "act of state terrorism" and the EU is expected to toughen sanctions against Belarus on Monday.
Ireland described the forced diversion of the flight operated by the Irish airline as a state-sponsored act of "aviation piracy".
"This was effectively aviation piracy, state-sponsored," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE.
"We cannot allow this incident to pass on the basis of warnings or strong press releases. I think there has to be real edge to the sanctions that are applied on the back of this."
Dublin-headquartered Ryanair is renowned for ultra low-cost, short-haul flights across the continental bloc.
Favoured by budget holidaymakers, the carrier is an unlikely participant in a high-stakes diplomatic crisis.
"I think it's the first time it's happened to a European airline," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary told Ireland's Newstalk radio.
"It was a state-sponsored hijacking, it was state-sponsored piracy."
"We believe there were some (Belarusian security agency) KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well."
Flights re-routed to avoid Belarusian airspace
Lithuania and Latvia on Sunday called for all international flights to avoid Belarusian airspace as a sanction against Belarusian authorities.
Latvia-based regional airline airBaltic said on Monday that it had re-routed two flights - headed for Ukraine and Georgia - to avoid Belarusian airspace.
The airline said the decision is in line with a recommendation from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
"The safety and health of our passengers and employees is the main priority for the airline," it said, adding that it would "closely monitor the situation".
Security prompted emergency landing, Belarus says
Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz accused the West of "politicising" the situation with its "unfounded" allegations.
"There is no doubt that the actions of our competent authorities... fully met established international rules."
"Unfounded accusations are being made," he said in a statement, accusing the West of not wanting to be objective and threatening to slap new sanctions on Belarus.
Mr Glaz said it was "sad" that the passengers of the Ryanair flight "faced some inconvenience".
"However the rules of aviation security are an absolute priority," he added.
Belarus authorities said the plane had to make an emergency landing in Minsk following a bomb scare that turned out to be false.
Belarus state media has defended the use of a MiG-29 jet to divert the passenger plane, claiming authorities had no other choice.
Russia condemns reaction of Western nations
Russia's foreign ministry said criticism against Belarus' actions are unjustified.
"We are shocked that the West calls the incident in Belarusian air space 'shocking,'" Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook, accusing Western nations of "kidnappings, forced landings and illegal arrests".
Mr Protasevich, 26, is a Belarusian journalist and activist.
Together with co-founder Stepan Putilo he until recently ran the Nexta telegram channel that galvanised and directed huge protests against Mr Lukashenko's disputed re-election to a sixth term in August 2020.
Last year, Mr Protasevich and Mr Putilo were accused by Belarusian authorities of a number of crimes including organising mass riots.
Mr Protasevich left the Nexta project last year.
