Serious questions remain about whether the authoritarian regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka acted alone in hijacking Ryanair Flight 4978 and kidnapping Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega. Did Lukashenka get a stealthy assist from Vladimir Putin's Russia in commandeering a commercial airliner travelling between two European Union countries? Was the Putin-Lukashenka axis of autocrats acting in concert in this brazen act of air piracy? And if so, what are the implications for Western policy?
Top comments
The Power Vertical Podcast by Brian Whitmore covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today. Brian Whitmore is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center and Russia and Eurasia Specialist and Assistant Professor of Practice at the Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies at The University of Texas at Arlington.