Defiant Lukashenko defends plane diversion, blasts critics

I acted lawfully to protect our people, Belarus President says.

A defiant President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday defended 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, Mr. Lukashenko dismissed the international outcry the incident provoked. “I acted lawfully to protect our people,” Mr. Lukashenko said in an address to Parliament, the Belta state-run news agency reported. The criticism was nothing more than another attempt by his opponents to undermine his rule, he said. “Our ill-wishers at home and abroad have changed their methods of attacking the state,” Mr. Lukashenko said.