West hits Belarus with new sanctions over Ryanair 'piracy'

FILE PHOTO: A Ryanair aircraft, which was carrying Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and diverted to Belarus, where authorities detained him, lands at Vilnius Airport in Vilnius, Lithuania May 23, 2021. REUTERS/Andrius Sytas/File Photo

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Western powers hit Belarus with a wave of new sanctions on Monday in a coordinated response to Minsk's forced landing of a Ryanair plane last month to arrest a journalist on board, an act that is set to prompt further economic sanctions.

The European Union, the United States, Britain and Canada blacklisted more officials, lawmakers and ministers from the administration of President Alexander Lukashenko, whose air force intercepted the Ryanair plane flying between Athens and Vilnius on May 23 in what the West called state piracy.