Belarus opposition figure arrested after flight diverted to capital

Kyiv, Ukraine — A prominent opponent of Belarus' authoritarian president was arrested Sunday after the airliner in which he was traveling was diverted to the country after a bomb threat, in what the opposition is calling a hijacking operation by the government.

The presidential press service said President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered that a MiG-29 fighter jet accompany the Ryanair plane — carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich and traveling from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania — to the airport in the capital Minsk. Deputy air force commander Andrei Gurtsevich said the plane's crew made the decision to land in Minsk, but Ryanair said in a statement that Belarusian air traffic control instructed the plane to divert to the capital.