A Belarusian opposition journalist was detained after his flight to Lithuania was diverted to Belarus
Roman Protasevich, 26, was on a Ryanair flight from Athens which was rerouted to Minsk
He and his girlfriend were arrested in Minsk - three other passengers left the plane
Ryanair CEO suggests the other three may have been agents of the Belarusian KGB
Belarus says the flight to Vilnius was diverted because of a bomb threat from Palestinian militant group Hamas
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab calls the flight diversion a "reckless and dangerous" breach of international law
A video has emerged in which Protasevich appears to confess to several crimes - but activists say he was under duress
Meanwhile, the European Union agrees to impose more sanctions on Belarus and calls on airlines to avoid the country's airspace
Passengers on board the Ryanair flight have described the moment opposition journalist Roman Protasevich was detained.
Fighter jets were sent to forcibly divert the plane after claims of a bomb threat, which witnesses on the flight said "wasn't true".
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said there appeared to be KGB security agents on the flight.
Ryanair flight FR4978 was en route from the Greek capital Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Sunday when it was diverted to land in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Data from flight radar suggests the plane was in fact closer to Vilnius than Minsk when it was forced to land.
When it arrived, the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich was taken away by police. Belarus state media say President Alexander Lukashenko personally gave the order to divert the plane.
Ryanair said the crew had been "notified by Belarus (Air Traffic Control) of a potential security threat on board and were instructed to divert to the nearest airport, Minsk".
On Monday Belarus alleged that Minsk National Airport received a threat purporting to be from Palestinian militant group Hamas, saying there was a bomb on board which they planned to detonate over Vilnius.
But Tadeusz Giczan - the editor of Nexta, the media outlet Mr Protasevich used to work for - tweeted that agents from Belarusian security service the KGB had boarded the plane and were the source of the bomb alert, external.
The plane eventually landed in Lithuania’s capital six hours behind schedule. On Monday, Lithuanian officials said five passengers who boarded in Athens did not reach Vilnius. "The latest... is that 126 passengers left Athens and 121 landed in Vilnius. This does not include the crew of six," a spokeswoman for the Lithuanian prime minister told Reuters.
Latvian authorities have said they are expelling Belarus's ambassadors and diplomats from the country, after Belarus did exactly the same to Latvia's diplomatic staff.
A statement from Latvia's foreign ministry said that on Monday, Belarus summoned Latvia's ambassador in Minsk and gave him 24 hours to leave. Other staff have 48 hours to pack their bags.
Latvia is now doing the same, the statement said, external. The two countries share a border.
The detention of journalist Roman Protasevich will be one of the items on the agenda for tonight’s EU meeting.
The EU has already summoned the Belarusian ambassador to inform him of the bloc's "firm condemnation", but what measures could it take in response?
UK flights have been asked to avoid Belarusian airspace in the wake of the plane diversion.
UK transport minister Grant Shapps tweeted on Monday that he had instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to request airlines to make the move “in order to keep passengers safe”. The operating permit for the Belarusian national airline Belavia has also been suspended.
Belarus’ decision to divert the flight to Minsk has prompted international fury. EU leaders are due to discuss their response to what the union's executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department said was "a shocking act".
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Image source, EPARoman Protasevich, seen here in 2017, was arrested after the plane landed in Minsk
Thanks for joining our live coverage. Several Western countries have condemned Belarus for diverting a commercial flight to arrest an opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich. Here are some of the latest updates: