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How Europe answered the Ryanair flight diversion
Summary
A look back at the measures taken against Belarus in the days around 26 May 2021, and at a separate ransomware disclosure involving a Russian-linked group.
What did Europe do after Belarus diverted a Ryanair flight? By 26 May 2021, the response had already taken shape, and it came in two steps.
On 23 May 2021, NATO demanded an international investigation into Belarus' diversion of Ryanair Flight 4978. The demand put the incident on the agenda of the alliance as well as of the European Union.
On 24 May 2021, the European Union went further. It banned all Belarusian airlines from using its airports and airspace, responding to what it called the hijacking of the flight. It also placed sanctions on the officials believed to be involved in the operation. The airspace ban and the targeted sanctions were the concrete penalties attached to the diplomatic demand for an inquiry.
A separate story on cybercrime
Another disclosure came on 21 May 2021. CNA Financial, the seventh-largest commercial insurer in the United States, revealed that it had been hit by a ransomware attack in March 2021. It said it paid $40 million to a group named Phoenix two weeks after company data was stolen and its officials were locked out of the network.
The attackers used malware called Phoenix Locker, a variant of ransomware dubbed Hades. Cybersecurity experts said Hades was created by a Russian cybercrime syndicate known as Evil Corp. In December 2019, the US Treasury Department had announced sanctions on 17 individuals and six entities linked to Evil Corp, making it illegal for a US company to knowingly pay a ransom to the group.
The two stories were unrelated, but both unfolded in the same days: one a set of state-level penalties on Belarus, the other a payment that raised questions under existing US sanctions.
