The Japanese government decided to prohibit the planes of Belarusian airlines from landing on the territory of the country due to the incident with the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk on May 23.

This was announced by the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan Katsunobu Kato, Ukrinform reports with reference to Kyodo News.

“We strongly condemn the forced landing of a civilian aircraft and the arbitrary arrest of a specific passenger on board by the Belarusian authorities, and we demand the immediate release of the arrested journalist,” Kato said at a press conference..

In addition, the government will recommend Japanese air carriers not to fly over Belarus..

However, as noted, the ban is symbolic, since there is no direct flight between Japan and Belarus..

As reported, on May 23, the Belarusian authorities resorted to a forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft from Athens to Vilnius under the pretext of a possible terrorist attack on board.. After landing, security officials arrested activist and opposition journalist Roman Protasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega.

The EU and the US condemned the forced landing of the Ryanair liner in Minsk, and also demanded the release of Protasevich.

Later, the European Union banned Belarusian airlines from flying over their territory. Ukraine has resorted to similar measures.