Against the backdrop of a forced landing of a civilian aircraft in Belarus in order to arrest a journalist on board, Russia entered the line of the incident defending its ally.

Russian foreign spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, United States, recalled that several years ago, she pressured the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, to make a forced landing in Vienna, after several European countries refused to allow the aircraft to fly over their territory.

The European countries' argument was that the US National Security Agency's fugitive employee, Edward Snowden, was on the plane from Moscow, when Morales attended an international conference in 2013.

When officials in Austria confirmed that Snowden was not on board, they allowed the President's Bolivian aircraft to leave and complete its route.

This was strongly protested, especially by Latin American countries, and there was much criticism of the administration of former US President Barack Obama at the time.