On the 4th of July 2012, a Swedish public
relations firm dropped 879 toy teddy-bears by parachute on the town of Ivenets
near Minsk in Belarus. This was a pro-democracy protest against Europe’s last
dictatorship, with each teddy-bear carrying a suitable slogan.
Belarus is former Soviet state that has been ruled by President
Alexander Lukashenko since democratic elections in 1994. Since the first free
election, the state has become progressively more autocratic and has seen a
clampdown on press freedom. The European Union has an asset free and travel
restrictions on 200 Belarus officials for alleged human right abuses. If any of
these people travel in the rest of Europe, they will be detained.
The incident has wider interest than merely highlighting the
excesses of one ex-soviet regime.
Belarus is part of the air defence network of Russia and
although the light aircraft managed to enter Belarus airspace from Sweden, Andrei
Savinykh, the spokesman for Belarus' Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the
intruded was detected ‘but the air defence did nothing. They didn’t
consider the aircraft as a military threat because it was a small aircraft and
usually the air defence system is focusing on high-speed heavy crafts.’
This incident raises questions about the effectiveness of
the Russian air defence umbrella.
In the days of potential air attack by suicide terrorists,
the wider question is how to react to such suspicious civilian aircraft? There
are dangers to over-reaction; in September 1983, the Soviets shot down a
civilian Korean Airline Flight 007 over the Sea of Japan by a Su-15. America
shot down civilian flight Iran air flight 655 in July 1988 over the straits of
Hormuz.
Belarus is quite clear about their reaction to a further
incident. Their spokesman said any further unauthorised aircraft would be
treated as a threat. Belarus air space will not be a good place to stray from
one’s registered flight plan.
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