The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed on Thursday to investigate the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane in Minsk, which sparked international outrage.
The ICAO’s 36-nation Governing Council acted after the United States and several allies called for an investigation into what British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described as a “grave violation of international law”.
The ICAO will submit an interim report by June 25, said Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan. The ICAO said in a statement following the meeting that its council had expressed “serious concern” about the incident.
The investigation is a preliminary investigation, the main purpose of which is to determine whether international aviation regulations have been violated. The ICAO has little leeway to punish member states other than by suspending their voting rights.
On Sunday Belarus confused a fighter and rerouted the Irish airliner to Minsk with a false bomb alarm and arrested a dissident Belarusian journalist. The plane flying from Athens to Vilnius was almost in Lithuanian airspace when the order was given to land.
“These unacceptable measures were an attack on European aviation security and endangered the lives of passengers and crew on their journeys between two EU capitals,” said Ryan.
Minsk, now facing calls for sanctions, denied charges that it acted illegally and accused the West of using the episode to wage a “hybrid war” against it.
The Council urged ICAO members to cooperate with the probe.
“You couldn’t just close your eyes,” said one person familiar with the meeting, adding that security was a key issue.
Two sources familiar with the meeting said Russia and China both refused to support an investigation.
Russia, which has accused the West of hypocrisy, told delegates that what happened in Minsk was not an isolated incident and recalled reports that in 2013 Washington arranged a jet to land fugitive Edward Snowden in Austria .
China argued longer before taking action, one added.
Russian and Chinese diplomats did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Montreal-based ICAO has influence through its security standards approved by its 192 member states.
“We would like to remind those who have asked that we take punitive action against this country that our agency has never been assigned this type of role or ability,” the ICAO tweeted on Wednesday.
Belarus told the meeting that the airliner had not been held down by the authorities and that the pilot could have landed in Lithuania, said a source familiar with the incident. The source asked for anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
Under the Chicago Convention, each country has sovereignty over its own airspace, but the treaty prohibits any use of civil aviation that could endanger security.
A separate Montreal Treaty of 1971, in which Belarus is a party, prohibits the seizure of aircraft or knowingly transmitting false information in a way that endangers the safety of aircraft.
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