Sir, – Tomas McBride (Letters, May 26th) suggests that the 2013 events concerning the Bolivian president's plane landing in Austria in some way undermine any criticism of the military interception of an EU civil aircraft in order to arrest a passenger travelling between two EU countries.
He could hardly be more wrong.
The 2013 incident did not involve a military interception. Three countries denied the plane access to their airspace and so it landed in another country until access was granted after some delay and France apologised to the Bolivian government for the delay in permission. This did not involve a civil aircraft but a state aircraft. Civil aircraft are covered by the Chicago Convention and state aircraft are not.
The Ryanair plane was an aircraft from the EU, flying between two EU member states and was intercepted by a non-EU military aircraft for nefarious purposes under the false pretext of a bomb threat. It was already on descent into Vilnius and taken on a long detour by a MiG fighter. The 2013 incident was a flight from Russia to Bolivia, it was not an internal flight, not a civil aircraft with civilian passengers, was not intercepted by military and was not forced to land but temporarily denied access to a country’s airspace. When it made its own alternate arrangements nobody was arrested or removed from the plane and it proceeded once permission was restored. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW DOYLE,
Bandon,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Major cultural and sporting events have long been used to promote the host country’s image and international prestige. Holding cycling’s European Track Championships in Belarus next month can only serve to validate that discredited regime’s legitimacy. It is incumbent on all participating nations to boycott this event or for the European Cycling Union to relocate its championships. –Yours, etc,
BILLY SHORTALL,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.