Kremlin calls West's reaction to Belarus plane incident 'shocking'

Russia on Monday accused the West of hypocrisy in its outraged response to the diversion of an airliner to the Belarusian capital Minsk.

Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday, then detained a dissident journalist who was on board. There was condemnation from European countries, the United States and NATO.

"It is shocking that the West calls the incident in Belarusian airspace 'shocking'," Foreign Ministry spokewoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook.

"Either (they) should be shocked by ... the forced (landing) in Austria of the Bolivian president's plane at the request of the United States ... Or (they) should not be shocked by similar behaviour by others."