Ukraine settles compensation to Belavia over forced return to Kyiv incident
The Belarusian air carrier Belavia has agreed with Ukraine on the amount of compensation for the return of its Minsk-bound flight to Kyiv last year, Belavia CEO Anatol Husarau told BelaPAN.
According to Husarau, the agreement was in line with both the Belarusian and Ukrainian laws. He refused to reveal the amount of the compensation but only said it was equal to the amount that Belarus asked from Ukraine before.
On October 21, 2016, Belavia's Boeing 737-800 took off from the Zulyany airport in Kyiv but was forced to return to the airport of departure on the orders from Ukraine's Security Service. The air controller told the pilots that Ukraine would scramble military jets to intercept theit plane if they decided not to obey the order. Upon return to Kyiv, Ukrainian security agents removed one of the passengers from the plane. The passanger underwent additional checks and injterrogation and was released. He left Kyiv for Minsk with the next scheduled flight.
Belarus expressed indignation over Ukraine's threats to deploy fighter jets against a passanger aircraft. On November 10, Ukraine's President Piotr Poroshenko called Aliaksandr Lukashenka to apologize for the Belavia plane incident and said that the people to blame had been punished.
