Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has admitted that a KGB operative was aboard the Ryanair flight forced to land in Minsk under the false pretext of a bomb threat. A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet intercepted the Boeing 737-800, carrying 132 passengers, compelling it 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 Sofia Sapega, a 23-year-old Russian law student. Lukashenko has now claimed that Protasevich was a Belarusian KGB agent operating undercover, posing as a dissident while running a widely followed anti-government Telegram channel. Sapega is believed to have been unaware of his alleged double role.
Ryanair flight FR4978 had departed Athens, bound for Vilnius, when it entered Belarusian airspace. Belarusian authorities claimed there was a bomb on board, ordering the aircraft to land in Minsk. After Protasevich and Sapega were removed, the flight continued to its original destination.
The operation provoked widespread international condemnation and led to sweeping sanctions against Belarus, including restrictions on the state airline Belavia. The measures, imposed by the European Union and other Western governments, were estimated to have cost Belarus up to 10 per cent of its GDP and further isolated the regime diplomatically.
The revelation that Protasevich may have been a career intelligence operative raises questions about the strategic logic of the Ryanair diversion. If he were a loyal agent of the state, the detainment and the resulting economic and political fallout appear to have achieved little other than exposing Belarus to international sanctions and criticism.
Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than three decades and is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, defended the operation, saying: “We detained opposition leader Protasevich. But in fact, he is our intelligence officer. I personally authorised the operation.” He added that Protasevich had been “working undercover among the self-exiled opposition”.
The arrest of Protasevich and Sapega was widely interpreted at the time as a crackdown on dissent. Protasevich, in particular, appeared on Belarusian state television confessing to alleged crimes and praising Lukashenko, with visible marks on his wrists that observers linked to torture practices commonly reported in Belarusian detention facilities.
In May 2023, Protasevich was charged with organising mass unrest and engaging in “extremist activities” and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was pardoned later that month, indicating ongoing cooperation with Belarusian authorities. Until Lukashenko’s recent statements, his status as a career intelligence operative was not publicly known.
Sapega, for her part, was charged with “inciting social hatred”, illegally collecting and disseminating personal information without consent, and other offences related to her alleged involvement with the Telegram channel. She was sentenced to eight years in prison but pardoned 13 months later and returned to Russia.
Protasevich has now confirmed Lukashenko’s claim, stating only: “Yes, I can confirm this information, but for now, that is all I can say.”
Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, described the 2021 incident as a “state-sponsored hijacking”, emphasising the pressure placed on the pilot. He said: “He wasn’t instructed overtly to land, but he was left with few alternatives.”
The operation drew international outrage, as forcing a civilian flight to land under false pretences contravenes aviation and international law. At the time, Belarus insisted the bomb threat justified the diversion, but the claim was widely discredited by aviation and security experts.
The sanctions imposed on Belarus remain in place, particularly targeting Belavia and other state-owned entities. The incident and subsequent fallout have solidified Lukashenko’s status as an international pariah and demonstrated 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 been counterproductive. The diversion, the arrests, and the resulting sanctions inflicted significant economic damage and damaged Belarus’s international standing without achieving any clear security or intelligence objective.
Belarus’s state security agency continues to operate under the Soviet-era name KGB, maintaining its reputation for ruthless surveillance and covert operations. Lukashenko’s admission, 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 additional comment.
