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Events in the year 2021 in Belarus .
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Events in the year 2021 in Belarus .
Ongoing — COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus
Vilnius International Airport is the airport of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. It is located 5.9 km (3.7 mi) south of the city center. It is the largest of the three commercial airports in Lithuania by passenger traffic, with one runway and 5 million passengers a year. Vilnius International Airport serves as a base for airBaltic, Ryanair, and Wizz Air. The airport is managed by Joint Stock Company Lithuanian Airports under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It is the 96th busiest airport in Europe.
Belavia, formally Belavia Belarusian Airlines, is the flag carrier of Belarus, headquartered in Minsk. The state-owned company had, as of 2007, 1,017 employees. Belavia serves a network of routes between Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as some Middle East destinations, from its base at Minsk National Airport.
The Belarus national football team represents Belarus in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Since independence in 1991, Belarus has not yet qualified for a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship.
Minsk National Airport, formerly known as Minsk-2, is the main international airport in Belarus, located 42 km (26 mi) to the east of the capital Minsk. It geographically lies in the territory of Smalyavichy Raion but is administratively subordinated to the Kastrychnitski District of Minsk. The airport serves as hub of the Belarusian flag carrier Belavia and the cargo carriers TAE Avia, Genex, and Rubystar Airways.
Motor Sich is a Ukrainian airline based in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. It operates passenger and cargo services, including charter and scheduled flights. Its main base is Zaporizhzhia International Airport.
Interstate relations between the United States and Belarus began in 1991 upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, of which Belarus had been a part. However, the relations have turned sour due to accusations by the United States that Belarus has been violating human rights. Belarus, in turn, has accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs.
The International Ice Hockey Federation is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 82 member countries.
Belarus and Ukraine are both are full members of the Baku Initiative and Central European Initiative. In 2020, during the Belarusian protests against president Lukashenko, the relationship between Ukraine and Belarus began to deteriorate, after the Ukrainian government criticized Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. In the waning days of 2021, the relationship between both countries rapidly deteriorated, culminating in a full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Belarus has allowed the stationing of Russian troops and equipment in its territory and its use as a springboard for offensives into northern Ukraine but has denied the presence of Belarusian troops in Ukraine. Even though part of the Russian invasion was launched from Belarus, Ukraine did not break off diplomatic relations with Belarus, but remain frozen.
Currently, Belarus has an embassy in Riga, while Latvia has an embassy in Minsk. The countries share 161 km as it relates to their common border. In May 2021 the relations were de facto terminated as both countries were expelling each other's diplomats of the corresponding embassy, Latvia was insisting to use the inaccurate former flag of Belarus, which is used by the Opposition against the Lukashenko Regime, as a representation for Belarus in the Ice Hockey World Championship in Riga over the Ryanair Flight 4978 diplomatic row. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei called Latvia's move 'an act of international vandalism' and called for an apology and return the legal green, red and white flag to its original place. The Belarusian government reacted with expelling every Latvian diplomat including the Ambassador inside the country, with Latvia following with the same response. The Zurich-based International Ice Hockey Federation sided with Belarus and asked the mayor of Riga to urgently take down the IIHF flags to protest to what the body called a political gesture.
The 2021 IIHF World Championship took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. Their joint bid won by a very tight margin against the Finnish bid with the cities of Tampere and Helsinki. On 18 January 2021 the IIHF decided to remove Belarus as a co-host due to the rising political unrest and COVID-19 concerns there. On 2 February, the IIHF voted to confirm Latvia as the sole host for the 2021 IIHF World Championship.
The 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 84th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only teams in the championship division participated in this year's tournament. The competition served as a qualification tournament for the top (only) division placements in the 2022 competition.
Many aviation-related events took place in 2021. The aviation industry continued to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 UEC European Track Championships was the twelfth edition of the elite UEC European Track Championships in track cycling and took place at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, from 5 to 9 October 2021. Originally it was supposed to be held in Minsk, Belarus, between 23 and 27 June 2021 as an elite UEC European Track Championships in track cycling On 27 May 2021 the Management Board of the European Cycling Union decided to cancel the 2021 Elite Track European Championships scheduled in Minsk in June 2021.
Roman Dmitriyevich Protasevich or Raman Dzmitryevich Pratasevich is a Belarusian blogger and political activist. He was the editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel Nexta and chief editor of the Telegram channel "Belarus of the Brain".
Ryanair Flight 4978 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Athens International Airport, Greece, to Vilnius Airport, Lithuania, operated by Buzz, a Polish subsidiary of the Irish airline Ryanair. On 23 May 2021, while in Belarusian airspace, it was diverted by the Belarusian government to Minsk National Airport due to alleged claims of a Hamas bombing attempt, where two of its passengers, opposition activist and journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, were arrested by authorities. The aircraft was allowed to depart after seven hours, reaching Vilnius eight and a half hours behind schedule.
Nexta is a Belarusian media outlet that is primarily distributed through Telegram and YouTube channels. The YouTube channel was founded by then 17-year-old student Stsiapan Putsila. The channel's headquarters are located in Warsaw, Poland, after its founder went into exile.
Sofia Andreyevna Sapega is a Russian student and former political prisoner who was arrested by Belarusian authorities in May 2021 along with Roman Protasevich after their flight Ryanair Flight 4978 was diverted to Minsk due to a false bomb threat. In May 2022, she was sentenced to six years in prison; she was pardoned one year later.
Aleksey Nikolaevich Avramenko was a Belarusian politician who served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2019 to 2023.