RUSSIA may have known about the forced diversion of a plane to Belarus in order to arrest an opposition journalist in advance, the House of Commons was told. 

The Ryanair flight was told by Belarusian flight controllers that there was a bomb threat against the plane as it passed through the country’s airspace on Sunday - and ordered it to land in the capital Minsk.

A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane, and when it landed Roman Protasevich, an activist and journalist, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, were led off the plane.

READ MORE: UK bans flights to Belarus and pulls airline's licence over Ryanair 'hijacking'

Protasevich ran a popular messaging app that played a pivotal role in helping organise massive protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

The National: The incident has caused international outrage and led to an urgent debate on the topic being scheduled in the House of Commons this afternoon. 

Led by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, the debate turned to possible Russian involvement when SNP foreign and commonwealth spokesperson Alyn Smith had his turn to speak.

Smith said: “There’s a clear breach of Article 3 and 4 of the Chicago convention, but it’s almost unimaginable that we’ve seen over the weekend a state hijacking of a civilian aircraft going between two EU and NATO capitals. This cannot stand and we must work with our international allies on this. 

“The Foreign Secretary will be aware that the European Council is meeting this evening, can he commit now to engage with that as he has said, but also to mirror the response when it is agreed and obviously that hasn’t happened yet. 

READ MORE: Belarus: Lukashenko 'forces Ryanair plane to land to arrest journalist'

“To go a bit further in terms of expressing solidarity and actually giving practical aid to Belarusian activists, journalists and agitators, making asylum easier to claim in the UK for these brave individuals. Can I ask also what assessment his department has made of Russian involvement in this action?

“It seems unforeseeable that this could have just been a unilateral act by Minsk, there is surely some Russian involvement and will it have consequences for the Russian state as well as the Belerusian state when things are decided.”

Raab replied: “We don’t have any clear details on that and I’ll be careful on what I say at this point.

“But as he says it’s very difficult to believe that this kind of action could have been taken without at least the acquiescence of the authorities in Moscow, but as I say it’s unclear as yet.”

The National:

On the Chicago convention, which establishes rules on airspace, aircraft registration and safet, security and other air travel related policy at an international level, Raab said the breachers were “striking and shocking”.

Article 3 of the convention states that “every State must refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight and that, in case of interception, the lives of persons on board and the safety of the aircraft must not be endangered”.

While in Article 4 it states simply that “each contracting State agrees not to use civil aviation for any purpose inconsistent with the aims of this Convention”.

It comes as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the UK’s independent aviation regulator to instruct planes to avoid Belarusian airspace. 

The operating permit of Belavia, the flag carrier and national airline of Belarus, has also been suspended.