The head of the state of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is 67 years old. For 27 years, he ruled over the country. He has three sons, two of whom are much older than Roman Protasevich, the young journalist on whom Lukashenko organized a real hunt on Sunday, May 23. The hunt was a success for the dictator. The 120 passengers on the plane flying the Athens-Vilnius route were scared by what happened. Roman and his girlfriend, Sofia, two of those passengers, were detained for an indefinite period. It is hard to imagine what kind of nightmares the families of the two are going through. Meanwhile, the three sons of Lukashenko, live in comfort and well-being as descendants of a head of state.

From Sunday to Wednesday, four days in a row, Alexander Lukashenko did not say a word about his terrorist actions. Finally, upset by the reaction of international institutions, but also by the decisions of several states not to fly over Belarusian airspace, Lukashenko made several explanatory statements. He claimed that it was a legal act to order the hijacking of the plane from Athens. “I protected the people,” Lukashenko said, denying that he sought to arrest journalist Protasevich. The Belarusian head of state accused all those who argued that he had sent a fighter jet to force the landing of the Ryanair plane.

Because Lukashenko’s statements were made to a state news agency in his country, it is clear why they did not follow any provocative questions to the speaker, including why Roman was detained and was not released until today. “If, as you say, you acted legally to protect people from a possible bomb, why were the two young men detained, not being released to this day?”, should have asked one of the journalists. But the question did not follow, nor the answer. 

Therefore, the dictator showed that he is upset with those who criticize him for his actions. He complained they want to suffocate Belarus, accusing international institutions of misinformation, but also threatening to “act firmly on any sanctions or provocations.”

His message did not contain any concrete names of institutions and states that upset him the most, but if it had, I think that Moldova would have positioned itself among the most friendly to the dictator. And I’m not just talking about Lukashenko’s friendship with former Moldovan presidents Dodon or Voronin. We watched how the state institutions, including the diplomatic ones, reacted to that terrorist action. Several states have decided to boycott Belarusian airspace, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Moldova has announced that the flights to and from Belarus continue and that the “airlines are advised to assess on their own the risks of overflight.”

Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs came up with a statement from which we found out that no Moldovan citizen was on the plane hijacked by Lukashenko. The ministry also said it supports the international investigation on this case. No other comments followed the press release.

Both the dissolved Parliament and the broken Government, as well as the Presidency have not yet had any reaction to this dangerous attack of a head of state, committed in the air space, on citizens of different countries, pursuing a single intention – the liquidation of an opponent, a young man determined to tell the truth about what is happening in Belarus. After the international community, through the firm voices of important leaders, condemned and sanctioned the actions of the dictator from Belarus, who has to win from the lack of attitude in Chișinău?