EU imposes sanctions on Belarus over 'hijacked' Ryanair flight

European countries have moved to sanction Belarus and ban its state airline from flying to Europe as they sought to punish President Alexander Lukashenko's regime for forcing a Ryanair passenger flight to land in the country so it could arrest a leading dissident onboard.

The international outcry has continued to grow over Sunday's incident, in which Belarus allegedly used a false bomb threat to divert the airliner to its capital, Minsk, in order to arrest Roman Protasevich, a 26-year-old Belarusian blogger who played a key role in last year's mass protests against Lukashenko.

The United States and European countries have called the incident "air piracy" and "state-sponsored hijacking."