Key Kremlin ally reveals KGB spy helped Russia hijack Ryanair flight in 2021 | World | News
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko admitted that a KGB agent on a Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk under the pretext of a bomb threat. A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet intercepted a Boeing 737-800 carrying 132 passengers and was forced to make an emergency landing in what international observers widely condemned as a “state-sponsored hijacking.”
The incident in May 2021 resulted in the immediate arrest of two passengers: Roman Protasevich, then 26, a prominent opposition activist, and his girlfriend, 23-year-old Russian law student Sofia Sapega. Lukashenko has now claimed that Protasevich was an undercover Belarusian KGB agent who posed as a dissident while running the widely followed anti-government Telegram channel. Sapega is believed to have been unaware of his alleged dual role.
Ryanair flight FR4978 had left Athens for Vilnius when it entered Belarusian airspace. Belarusian authorities ordered the plane to land in Minsk, claiming that there was a bomb on board. After the removal of Protasevich and Sapega, the flight continued to its original destination.
The operation sparked widespread international condemnation and led to sweeping sanctions against Belarus, including restrictions on state airline Belavia. The measures implemented by the European Union and other Western governments are estimated to have cost Belarus up to 10 percent of its GDP and further isolated the regime diplomatically.
The revelation that Protasevich may have been a career intelligence agent raises questions about the strategic logic of Ryanair’s distraction. If he had been a loyal agent of the state, the arrest and the resulting economic and political consequences appear to have served no purpose other than exposing Belarus to international sanctions and criticism.
Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than thirty years and is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, defended the operation as follows: “We arrested the opposition leader Protasevic. But in fact he is our intelligence officer. I personally authorized the operation.” He added that Protasevic was “working secretly among the self-exiled opposition.”
The arrest of Protasevich and Sapega was widely interpreted at the time as a crackdown on dissent. Protasevic, in particular, appeared on Belarusian state television confessing to the alleged crimes and praising Lukashenko; There were visible marks on his wrists that observers linked to torture practices commonly reported in Belarusian detention facilities.
In May 2023, Protasevich was charged with organizing mass unrest and participating in “extremist activities” and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was pardoned later that month, an indication of his continued cooperation with Belarusian authorities. Until Lukashenko’s recent statements, his status as a career intelligence agent was not publicly known.
Sapega, on the other hand, was charged with “inciting social hatred”, illegally collecting and disseminating personal information without consent, and other crimes related to his alleged involvement with the Telegram channel. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was pardoned after 13 months and returned to Russia.
Protasevic has now confirmed Lukashenko’s claim, saying only: “Yes, I can confirm this information, but that’s all I can say for now.”
Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, described the 2021 incident as a “state-sponsored hijacking”, highlighting the pressure on the pilot. He said: “He was not explicitly instructed to land, but was left with few alternatives.”
The operation sparked international outrage because forcing a civilian aircraft to land under false pretenses was against aviation and international law. At the time, Belarus insisted that the bomb threat justified the diversion, but that claim was largely discredited by aviation and security experts.
Sanctions against Belarus remain in force, specifically targeting Belavia and other state-owned entities. The incident and its aftermath cemented Lukashenko’s international pariah status and revealed the high costs of the regime’s aggressive intelligence and security operations.
If Protasevich was indeed a loyal intelligence agent all along, the Ryanair operation appears to have had the opposite effect. The diversion, arrests, and resulting sanctions caused serious economic damage and damaged Belarus’ international standing without achieving any clear security or intelligence purpose.
Belarus’ state security agency continues to operate under the Soviet-era name KGB, maintaining a reputation for brutal surveillance and covert operations. Lukashenko’s admission, made four years after the Ryanair incident, represents a dramatic revision of the narrative surrounding one of the most notorious acts of state intimidation in recent European aviation history.
Express.co.uk has contacted Ryanair for further comment.
