UK planes told to cease flying over Belarus after blogger arrest

Britain summons country's ambassador as operating permit of Belarus state airline suspended

The British government has told all UK planes to cease flying over Belarus and summoned the country's ambassador amid outrage over the arrest of an opposition blogger and his girlfriend when their Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, described the act as a reckless, cynical and dangerous hijacking of a Ryanair flight by Belarus government" and said further sanctions were being considered against Belarus. The operating permit for Belavia, the country's state-owned airline, has also been suspended in the UK.