Detained journalist was plotting ‘bloody rebellion’, says Belarus President

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused the journalist, who was pulled off a plane that was forced to land in Minsk, of plotting a rebellion.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday a journalist pulled off a plane that was forced to land in Minsk had been plotting a rebellion, and he accused the West of waging a hybrid war against him. In his first public remarks since a Belarusian warplane intercepted a Ryanair flight on Sunday between European Union members Greece and Lithuania, he showed no hint of backing down from confrontation with countries that accuse him of air piracy. "As we predicted, our ill-wishers from outside the country and from inside the country changed their methods of attack on the state," Lukashenko told parliament.