The European Union (EU) has decided to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies after a flight was diverted to Minsk on and a dissident journalist arrested.
At a meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 member states also told EU airlines not to fly over Belarus, and promised further economic sanctions.
In a clip, which appears to have been recorded under duress, the journalist, Roman Protasevich seemingly confessed to crimes he had been charged with by the Belarusian state.
But activists, including the country's main opposition leader, criticised the video and suggested Protasevich was under pressure to admit wrongdoing.
On his part, US President Joe Biden described the actions of the Belarusian authorities as outrageous, saying they were shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press.
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