Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Defiant Lukashenko defends Belarus plane diversion, blasts critics
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA defiant President Alexander Lukashenko defends Belarus’s diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident on board, lashing out at critics at home and abroad.
In his first public statement since the Ryanair flight was diverted and opposition journalist Roman Protasevich arrested on Sunday, Lukashenko dismisses the international outcry the incident provoked.
“I acted lawfully to protect our people,” Lukashenko says in an address to parliament, the Belta state-run news agency reports.
The criticism is nothing more than another attempt by his opponents to undermine his rule, he says.
“Our ill-wishers at home and abroad have changed their methods of attacking the state,” Lukashenko says.
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