Sapega admitted the involvement of Protasevich's entourage in the landing of Ryanair

MINSK, 10 Aug The Russian woman Sofya Sapega, detained in May at the Minsk airport, said that the incident with the landing of the Ryanair plane in Belarus could have involved the entourage of the founder of the Telegram channel recognized as extremist in Belarus, Roman Protasevich, with whom they flew from Athens to Vilnius, and did not think that the Belarusian special services are involved in this. “In fact, I am not strong enough to make any assumptions about who really could have done this, since I have always been far from any political showdown. But yes, from conversations with Roman, it was concluded that that it is Roman's work collective, someone from his working environment that is involved in this, «Sapieha said in an interview to the Belarus 1 TV channel aired on Tuesday. Poland and Lithuania «ordered» Protasevich, Lukashenko said. According to her, this option should not be ruled out. The Russian woman also denied the version that the KGB officers of Belarus were on board the plane and detained Protasevich there, before landing in Minsk, as well as the version that a fight with the flight attendants was allegedly provoked to land the plane in Minsk. «No, nothing of the kind happened … No KGB officers on the plane did anything to us, they weren't. There was also no fight,» Sapega said. By landing the plane in Minsk, the special services of Belarus could have been involved, Sapega answered in the negative. «No, because I tried never to go deep into this situation. I am still in this situation. Probably, after the story with me is over, I will need some more time to realize and make a sound and sober conclusion, give an assessment. Now I do not make any assessments, «she said. Belarus is ready to openly investigate the incident with Ryanair, Lukashenka said: The Ryanair plane that flew from Athens to Vilnius on May 23 urgently landed at the Minsk airport due to a message about mining, which was not later confirmed. This plane was flown by Protasevich. While checking documents at the Minsk airport, Protasevich was detained. A criminal case was initiated against him under several articles, including the article «organizing mass riots», he faces up to 15 years in prison. Together with Protasevich, a citizen of the Russian Federation Sofia Sapega was detained, who is accused of inciting social enmity and hatred, and is also suspected under an article on group actions that grossly violate public order. concluding a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the investigation, give consistent confessions. Investigators considered it possible to transfer them from custody to house arrest.