Putin offers Belarus leader support amid plane diversion scandal

At talks in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin backs his Belarusian counterpart over forced landing of Ryanair jet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko support in his standoff with the West over the forced landing of an Athens to Vilnius passenger jet to arrest a journalist. The West has accused Belarus of piracy after Belarusian air traffic control on Sunday informed the Ryanair pilot of a hoax bomb threat and Minsk scrambled a MiG-29 fighter plane to escort the plane down, before arresting Roman Protasevich, a journalist and critic of Lukashenko, along with his girlfriend. Both are in jail accused of orchestrating mass riots. Protasevich could be jailed for up to 15 years.