The United States formally banned air travel to Belarus on July 6 in response to the diversion of a flight a subsequent arrest by the regime in Minsk of an opposition journalist. The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a final order (pdf) on Tuesday prohibiting U.S. and foreign air carriers from selling tickets to Belarus with exceptions for “any transportation deemed to be in the national interest of the United States, including on humanitarian or national security grounds.” A copy of the notice was sent to the Embassy of Belarus in Washington. The Epoch Times requested a comment from the embassy. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked on June 28 asked Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to ban air travel to Belarus. The DOT offered two business days for public comment on the ban and did not receive any responses in opposition to the request. Airlines appeared to be in compliance …
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