Lucinda Creighton: Soft sanctions have failed to deter Putin and his puppets

Last week’s state-sponsored highjacking of a Ryanir plane should be a wake-up call to the EU on the very real threats to our security

‘While the relationship between Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin oscillates between warm and lukewarm, make no mistake – Belarus is a proxy for Russia and will do its bidding on the world stage.’ Picture: Getty

The hijacking last week of an Irish-registered civilian aircraft flying between two European Union member states, Greece and Lithuania, was a shocking and flagrant breach of the international rule of law and democratic values.

The fact that this act, which has rightly been dubbed as air piracy, was ordered by the head of state of a European country bordering the EU is unprecedented. The additional fact that this move was brazenly executed in order to ...