In May 2021 Belarusian authorities orchestrated a dramatic operation to capture Raman Pratasevich, a prominent dissident and former editor of Nexta, a Telegram-based Belarusian media channel. On May 23, a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk after Belarusian air traffic controllers, citing a bomb threat, ordered the plane to land. As soon as the aircraft touched down, Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were taken off the flight and arrested. Greek officials later confirmed that three men holding Russian passports had boarded the same flight in Athens.
Nexta, which operated from Poland, had been a central source of information and coordination during the mass anti-government protests that followed the disputed August 2020 presidential election in Belarus. The channel, where Pratasevich had worked until September 2020, was declared “extremist” by Minsk. At the time of his arrest Pratasevich was living in Vilnius and had attended the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece, where exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was meeting European politicians.
The forced diversion provoked international condemnation. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency later banned EU carriers from Belarusian airspace, and the US Federal Aviation Administration imposed similar restrictions for US airlines. Belarusian carriers such as state-owned Belavia were banned from EU airports. One year after the incident the International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that the bomb threat was deliberately fabricated to allow the Belarusian authorities to seize Pratasevich.
A day after his arrest a pro-government Telegram channel published a video of Pratasevich in custody, in which he said he would cooperate with investigators and appear to confess to wrongdoing; bruising was visible on his face. Western governments described his treatment as tantamount to abduction and said his on-camera statements were likely made under duress. A month later he appeared at a Belarusian foreign ministry press conference and denied having been pressured, but observers continued to question the circumstances under which those statements were produced.
Legal proceedings followed. On May 3, 2023, Pratasevich was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that included organizing mass riots, calling for terrorist attacks, and leading an extremist organization. Prosecutors also sought an equivalent of roughly €7 million in damages, citing the costs of suppressing the 2020 protests. In a sudden reversal, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned Pratasevich less than three weeks after the sentence, and the authorities removed him from the government’s list of terrorists a few months later. No official explanation was given for the abrupt change of position.
Sapega, who had been sentenced in May 2022 to six years’ imprisonment, was pardoned in June 2023 and returned to Russia.
After his release, Pratasevich struggled to return to a normal life. Reports say he tried several low-profile jobs — including factory welding, delivering mail, and working as a bartender — but found employment difficult because of his recent history. Belarusian security services have continued to exploit his public profile. Authorities sought to use him in filmed interviews with jailed opposition figures, but those politicians declined to cooperate in producing confession videos.
In 2025 the Belarusian security apparatus and state media began presenting a new narrative: senior officials, including the head of state security, claimed Pratasevich had been an informant who worked with Belarusian foreign intelligence and provided information about the protest movement in 2020. This account directly contradicted the official explanation for the 2021 flight diversion and has not been independently verified. The authorities have not explained why they would have staged the forced landing if Pratasevich were already collaborating with them.
Since 2025 Pratasevich has appeared on state television in roles that Kremlin-aligned media and Belarusian state outlets present as exposing opposition figures. Whether he is acting voluntarily or under continued pressure remains unclear. Observers and human rights groups continue to view his public recantations and subsequent media appearances through the lens of coercion and state manipulation.
The incident that brought Pratasevich into custody remains one of the most striking examples of how the Lukashenko regime has pursued exiled dissidents. Forced plane diversion, contested confessions, harsh sentences followed by sudden pardons, and efforts to recast a dissident as a state asset illustrate the complex and opaque tactics used by Minsk against its opponents.
This article was originally written in Russian.