Belarus’ high-ranking KGB officer Myćko wanted over forced Ryanair landing

May 27, Pozirk. Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office has identified the third person wanted by Interpol in connection with forced Ryanair aircraft landing in Minsk four years ago as Andrej Myćko, the head of the 9th directorate at the Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB), Belsat reported.

Office will seek the man’s arrest through Interpol without approaching Belarus for assistance.

Myćko appears to be the unnamed KGB officer, sentenced to a prison term by a Warsaw court in absentia last year along with Biełaeranavihacyja Air Navigation Service Director Leanid Čuro and shift leader Jaŭhien Cyhanoŭ, for whom Interpol issued red notice alerts earlier this year.

All three were accused of a terrorist attack on the aircraft. The plane’s landing led to the arrest of a Belarusian opposition journalist and his girlfriend who were on board, as well as sanctions against the Belarusian civil aviation sector. The flight was operated by Buzz, a Polish subsidiary of the Irish airline.

The Belarusian national airline Biełavija has been banned from the European Union after the incident in May 2021 which has not been investigated properly because Belarusian officials denied international experts access to key evidence and witnesses.

The International Civil Aviation Organization Council determined that the bomb threat against Ryanair Flight 4978 “was deliberately false and endangered its safety, and furthermore that the threat was communicated to the flight crew upon the instructions of senior government officials of Belarus.”

“As neither a bomb nor evidence of its existence was found during pre-departure screening in Athens, Greece and after various searches of the aircraft in Belarus and Lithuania, it is considered that the bomb threat was deliberately false. Knowingly communicating false information which endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight is an offence under Article 1 (1) (e) of the Montréal Convention,” it said.

Also read: Interpol issues red notice for suspects in 2021 Ryanair forced landing in Minsk