Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the diversion of the Ryanair flight FR4978 on 23 May which resulted in the arrest of the journalist Roman Protasevich.

As the Foreign Secretary made clear in his 24 May statement to Parliament, the Belarusian authorities' forced landing of Ryanair flight FR4978 and their subsequent arrest of the journalist, Roman Protasevich, is a shocking attack on human rights, civil aviation and international law. We have seen no evidence to support the Belarusian authorities' claims of a bomb threat to this flight. The UK Government summoned the Belarusian Ambassador to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Monday 24 May to condemn the regime's actions and demand the release of Mr Protasevich. We have acted swiftly to suspend permits of the main airline operating flights between the UK and Belarus and have advised all UK airlines to avoid flying over Belarusian airspace. We are actively considering and coordinating with our allies on further sanctions. We welcome the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) investigation into this attack on the principles that underpin civil aviation.