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BELARUS
PLANE
ARREST
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1 Warm up

Use your knowledge or the Internet to find the answers to the following questions about Belarus.

Which countries does Belarus share a border with?

1.

What is the capital city of Belarus?

2.

What are the official languages of Belarus?

3.

What is the currency of Belarus?

4.

How many regions is it divided into?

5.

What colours are its flag?

6.

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the following words to their definitions.

1. alleged (adj.) a. an opinion or way of thinking that is different from that of the people in
power
2. intercept (v) b. an order that negatively affects a country, usually via trade, to encourage
that country to change its political behaviour
3. asylum (n) c. a person who tells the public or an authority that the work they are doing
is illegal or morally wrong
4. extremism (n) d. a place of safety, usually given by a government, to protect someone
from danger in their native country
5. sanction (n) e. a political or religious way of thinking that involves dangerous or life-
threatening actions that are not acceptable to the majority of people
6. dissent (n) f. saying something is true but not giving evidence for it

7. whistle-blower (n) g. to interrupt the journey of a person or object and prevent the journey
from being completed
8. rig (v) h. to organise or influence something, such as a game or an election, so that
the result is decided regardless of the people playing or voting

Part B: Now write the correct word from Part A in the gaps in the following sentences. You may need
to change the form of the word.

1. Diplomats for the country have asked that be lifted in return for access to its
nuclear weapons programme.
2. The journalist is accused of promoting and violence with his blog.
3. The former President continues to complain that the election was despite being
unable to provide any evidence to support his claims.
4. Following the death threats, he sought political in Australia.
5. The dealer had sent him drugs in the mail, but they were by the authorities.
6. The newspaper refused to give the identity of the , despite pressure from law
enforcement.
7. The government has repeatedly used its power to suppress within its population.
8. The singer has been taken into custody for her part in the murder of her former
boyfriend.

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Now in pairs, answer the following questions.

1. Are there ever accusations in your country that elections or games are rigged? If so, do you believe
that they are true? Why/Why not?
2. Do you think countries have a moral obligation to help someone who is seeking asylum? Why/Why
not?
3. Why do you think people become involved in extremism?
4. Has your country ever imposed sanctions on another country? Or has another country ever
imposed sanctions on your country? Why?
5. If you sent some cash through the mail to someone in your country, is it likely that it would get
intercepted? Or not? Why?
6. Is there any protection for whistle-blowers in your country? Why/Why not?

3 Synonyms

Read the following sentences and choose the best synonym for the word in bold.

1. During the flight from New York to San Francisco, the plane was diverted.

a. searched
b. redirected
c. cancelled

2. At the airport, the passengers disembarked the plane.

a. entered
b. missed
c. got off

3. He was forced to leave the company following allegations of misconduct.

a. evidence
b. rumours
c. claims

4. He is being held on charges of inciting violence.

a. encouraging
b. organising
c. involving

5. Having listened to his story, the police felt it was implausible.

a. untrue
b. unlikely
c. convincing

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6. The president pronounced the country could be in a state of emergency.

a. suspected
b. suggested
c. declared

7. It is likely that he will be executed in the morning.

a. punished
b. hanged
c. reprimanded

8. The author was exiled to the West following the publication of his novel.

a. rewarded
b. cast out
c. beaten

4 Listening for details

Listen to the news report and note down how the following people/groups are connected to the story.

1. Ryanair
2. Hamas
3. Roman Protasevich
4. Sofia Sepega
5. President Alexander Lukashenko
6. Angela Merkel
7. Joe Biden
8. Maria Zakharova

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5 Listening comprehension

Complete the gaps in the following sentences with information from the news report.

1. During a flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, the plane was approached by a Belarusian
and forced to land.
2. In Minsk, out of the passengers on the plane, 2 of them were arrested.
3. Mr Protasevich currently lives in , where he moved in 2019.
4. All 27 European leaders condemned the arrests and promised that there would be
if Mr Protasevich wasn’t immediately released.
5. Despite the Belarusian authorities claiming there was a , Hamas, the militant
Palestinian group, have denied involvement and the claim is not seen as plausible by Western
leaders.
6. Russia has said the West’s response was an example of , due to an incident in
2013 when American/US authorities were searching for Edward Snowden.
7. Roman Protasevich’s father is fearful for his son as Belarus is the only country in Europe which
still uses the for criminals.
8. Many leaders of the to President Lukashenko’s government have fled to other
countries or have been arrested.

6 Scanning for vocabulary

Find words or phrases in the article on page 6 which mean the following:

1. people who strongly criticise their government (Paragraph 1)

2. without considering or paying attention to (Paragraph 2)

3. to break a law or an agreement (Paragraph 3)

4. excellent at persuading people and changing their opinion (Paragraph 4)

5. someone who is not officially in charge, but is generally accepted as being so

(Paragraph 5)

6. to pressure someone by insulting them or doing disagreeable things to them

(Paragraph 5)

7. a person who discusses a particular subject in public and is usually very

knowledgeable about it (Paragraph 5)

8. cut up into pieces (Paragraph 6)

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Two Famous Dissidents

The cost of disagreeing with a government

1.
With the story of Roman Protasevich in the news, we see that dissidents can face unforeseen consequences for
their actions. This week, we take a look at two other people who have opposed the authorities in their countries.
Edward Snowden
2.
In 2013, Snowden gathered highly classified information while working in Hawaii for the National Security Agency
(NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In May of that year, he flew to Hong Kong and shared the
information with journalists who went on to publish the findings in The Guardian and The Washington Post. It
verified that the United States government, working together with other governments, were working on global
surveillance systems to monitor populations, irrespective of international borders. One of the journalists, Glenn
Greenwald, maintained that the United States had used counterterrorism, and particularly the events of September
11th, 2001, as cover for developing the systems in order to observe the progress of other countries in "business,
industrial and economic fields".
3.
To this day, Snowden remains in Russia and together with his wife, Lindsay, is applying for dual Russian-American
citizenship. In the US, he still has criminal charges against him under the Espionage Act, including Theft of
Government Property, Unauthorised Communication of National Defence Information and Willful Communication
of Classified Intelligence to an Unauthorised Person. However, the United States Federal Court ruled in September
2020 that the mass surveillance which Snowden exposed was illegal and potentially violated the United States
constitution. They also noted that intelligence leaders who defended the operation were lying.
Jamal Khashoggi
4.
Khashoggi was a well-respected and highly-influential journalist in Saudi Arabia and during the 1990s worked as a
foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Sudan, Kuwait and Algeria. He interviewed Osama bin Laden several times
during this time too, but distanced himself from the leader after his infamous attack on the twin towers of the
World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, condemning his surrender to "hatred and passion". He was close to
the Saudi Royal family and worked as an adviser to the government and also, reportedly, for Saudi intelligence.
5.
However, he was repeatedly critical of Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and its de facto
leader. This put him at odds with the establishment to the extent that he decided to flee to the United States
in 2017, fearing for his life. Once in the US, he began to work for The Washington Post and continued to voice
opposition to the Saudi regime. The Washington Post did reveal that an organisation funded by Qatar, a long-
standing critic of Saudi Arabia, "shaped" Khashoggi’s writing by offering him ideas and giving him research. Saudi
Arabi for its part paid hundreds of people to harass Khashoggi online, as well as other critics of Saudi Arabia.
Edward Snowden accused the Saudis of using Israeli spyware known as "Pegasus" to keep track of Khashoggi via
his mobile phone. Despite this, Khashoggi boasted over two million followers on Twitter and was described by
The Spectator as "the most famous political pundit in the Arab world".
6.
On the 2nd October, Khashoggi went to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey to obtain documents for
his planned marriage. He asked his fiancée to wait outside. She waited for almost ten hours, but he was never
seen again. After investigation by Turkish and Saudi Arabian investigators, it was concluded that Khashoggi was
murdered and his body dismembered and removed from the consulate. There was clear evidence of a cover-up,
including cameras being switched off and surveillance footage being removed, as well as the use of chemicals to
destroy evidence at the crime scene. Mohammed bin Salman declared that he bore responsibility for the murder as
it happened while he was in charge but denied knowing of it in advance, a stance supported by President Erdogan
of Turkey. In September 2020, Saudi Arabia sentenced 8 people responsible for the murder to prison terms of
between 7 and 20 years. Their names were not made public.
Sources: bbc.co.uk; sputniknews.com; haaretz.com; theguardian.com

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7 Reading comprehension
Read the following statements and decide if they are True, False or Not Given.

1. Edward Snowden collected top secret government data while working in the United States.
2. The evidence he collected showed that the United States government was working with foreign
governments to observe private citizens for purposes other than preventing terrorism.
3. Snowden could face execution for his involvement in sharing classified intelligence with foreign
governments should he return to the United States.
4. The global surveillance systems which the NSA were operating were found to be in line with the
requirements of the constitution by the Federal Court.
5. Prior to the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, Jamal Khashoggi and Osama bin
Laden had been good friends.
6. Khashoggi moved to the United States because he worried that he might be killed.
7. Saudi Arabia worked together with Israel to monitor Khashoggi’s movements.
8. President Erdogan of Turkey suggested that Mohammed bin Salman had arranged for Khashoggi’s
murder.

8 Talking point
In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is your reaction to the incident in Belarus? Do you think the government had a right to make
the arrests? Or not? Why?
2. Do you agree with Russia that the West is being hypocritical in condemning the plane diversion?
Or do you think the two incidents are different?
3. What effect do you think these events could have on international flights and journalism?
4. What is your opinion on the actions of Edward Snowden? Did he do the right thing, or is he a
traitor to the United States? Why?
5. What is your opinion on what happened to Jamal Khashoggi? Do you think he should not have
criticised members of the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia? Or did he do the right thing? Why?
6. Do you think people should be able to criticise the leadership of their country openly? Or is it
important to have respect for and accept the decisions of the leaders? Why?

9 Extended exercise/homework
Read the following question.

Citizens of a country have a duty to be loyal to and supportive of their leaders. They have
a difficult job and are acting in the best interests of the country. Questioning their actions
reduces the standing of the country internationally and harms all of its citizens.

• To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

• Write at least 250 words.
• Be sure to check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

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Transcripts

4. Listening for details

Newsreader: ... And now we turn to news that a plane flying from Greece to Lithuania was diverted
mid-air due an alleged bomb threat. The Ryanair flight departed Athens at 7.29 am and
was flying when it was intercepted by a Belarusian fighter jet over Belarus.

Newsreader: They claimed that Palestinian militants, Hamas, had threatened to detonate a bomb
onboard the plane over the Lithuanian city of Vilnius unless their demands were met.
The Ryanair pilots were instructed to divert the plane to Minsk, the capital of Belarus,
where it landed at 1.16 pm local time.

Newsreader: On arrival, 126 passengers disembarked and two of them: Roman Protasevich, 26,
and his girlfriend, Sofia Sepega, 23, were immediately arrested. Mr Protasevich is
a Belarusian journalist and a former editor with Nexta - a media operation which
has been highly critical of the Belarusian government headed by President Alexander
Lukashenko.

Newsreader: Mr Protasevich has been an active critic of President Lukashenko since 2011 and in
2019 moved to Poland, claiming political asylum there in January 2020. He is wanted
in Belarus on charges of extremism - including "organising riots" and "inciting social
hatred" – allegations which Mr Protasevich rejects.

Newsreader: The plane diversion and the subsequent arrests drew condemnation from European
leaders, with all 27 member states threatening economic sanctions. German
Chancellor, Angela Merkel, described the bomb threat as "completely implausible" with
Hamas denying any involvement and the group having no history of any actions outside
of Palestinian and Israeli territories.

Newsreader: Western countries have described the incident as a "hijacking" by the Belarusian
authorities. American President, Joe Biden, pronounced the plane interception as
"shameful" assaults on both political dissent and freedom of the press.

Newsreader: Russian allies of President Lukashenko, however, were quick to accuse European and
American leadership of hypocrisy in their response.

Newsreader: The Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Maria Zakharova, cited the forced landing of a plane carrying the Bolivian
President in Vienna, Austria in 2013, when US authorities were searching for the
whistle-blower, Edward Snowden.

Newsreader: After being denied permission to fly through the airspace of France, Portugal, Italy and
Spain due to pressure from the United States, the plane was forced to land in Austria.
The Americans believed Snowden to be on board. He wasn’t.

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Newsreader: Roman Protasevich’s father issued a statement expressing his fear that his son could
be beaten and tortured, or possibly executed. Belarus still has the death penalty, the
only country in Europe to do so. Since the Belarusian election last August, which
opponents of the government claim was rigged, President Lukashenko has cracked
down on dissenting opinions of his government.

Newsreader: Many leading figures of the opposition have been arrested or, like Mr Protasevich, have
been exiled to other countries. Mr Protasevich’s whereabouts remain unknown.

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
Ask the students to quickly research the questions unless they know them already. Ideally, ensure that they have
access to a map as this will help them understand the route of the plane in the news report. This is to ensure
students who know little about Belarus, have an idea of where it is and some basic information about it.

1. Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

2. Minsk
3. Belarusian and Russian
4. Belarusian Ruble
5. Seven. There are six main regions, plus the city of Minsk which is also designated as a region.
6. Red and Green

2. Focus on vocabulary

Part A
5 mins.
Ask students to attempt this task without a reference in the first instance. Then they check their work if needed.
Ensure students can correctly pronounce target vocabulary.

1. f 2. g 3. d 4. e 5. b 6. a 7. c 8. h
Part B
10 mins.
You may want to ask students to identify which word forms can fill the gaps ahead of completing this exercise.
When finished, ask students to discuss the questions and circulate and help as needed.

1. sanctions 2. extremism 3. rigged 4. asylum

5. intercepted 6. whistle-blower 7. dissent 8. alleged

3. Synonyms

5 mins.
This gives students extra support with vocabulary in the news report. Ensure students can pronounce the target
vocabulary. Note for question 7, the answer "hanged" is a form of execution and there are others. You may wish
to elaborate on this if you have time.

1. b 2. c 3. c 4. a 5. b 6. c 7. b 8. b

4. Listening for details

5 mins.
This story is quite complex, so this exercise allows students to understand who the key players are in the story
before listening for more details in the comprehension. High-level students may be able to answer this in addition
to the comprehension.

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1. The airline company involved in the incident.

2. Alleged to be making a bomb threat, which was the reason for diverting the plane. There is as yet no evidence
that this was true.
3. The Belarusian journalist who was arrested for dissent against the Belarusian government.
4. Roman Protasevich’s girlfriend, who was also arrested.
5. The President of Belarus.
6. German Chancellor who said it was extremely unlikely that Hamas were involved.
7. American President, condemned the actions of the Belarusian government.
8. Accused Europe and America of hypocrisy as they had been involved in a similar incident in 2013.

5. Listening comprehension

10 mins.
Ask students to listen again and complete the sentences with the information required. You may want them to
guess the words or predict the type of answer first (numbers, nouns, adjectives, etc.). Lower-level students may
need to listen to the report again.

1. fighter jet 2. 126 3. Poland 4. economic sanctions

5. bomb threat 6. hypocrisy 7. death penalty 8. opposition

6. Scanning for vocabulary

5 mins.
This provides an opportunity for the students to interact with the text before reading for detail. You may want to
set a strict time limit to encourage skimming.

1. dissidents 2. irrespective of
3. violated 4. highly-influential
5. de facto leader 6. harass
7. pundit 8. dismembered

7. Reading comprehension

10 mins.
Allow students to read the text in detail and decide on their answers. Note that True and False answers will have
evidence which they can underline, Not Given will not.

1. True. "Snowden gathered highly classified information while working in Hawaii for the National Security Agency
(NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)."
2. True. "It verified that the United States government, working together with other governments, were working
on global surveillance systems to monitor populations, ... the United States had used counterterrorism, ... as cover
for developing the systems ... to observe the progress of other countries in business, industrial and economic
fields."
3. Not Given. He is wanted on criminal charges but there is no information given about what the punishment
would be.
4. False. "Federal Court ruled in September 2020 that the mass surveillance which Snowden exposed was illegal
and potentially violated the United States constitution."
5. Not Given. We know he interviewed him several times but cannot make assumptions about their relationship.
6. True. "...he decided to flee to the United States in 2017, fearing for his life."
7. Not Given. We know Saudi Arabia used Israeli spyware, but not that Israel was involved in supplying it.

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8. False. "Mohammed bin Salman ... denied knowing of it in advance, a stance supported by President Erdogan of
Turkey."

8. Talking point

15 mins.
Avoid giving your own opinion on this to encourage students to feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Ensure there
is a supportive atmosphere and ask that students qualify their opinions.

9. Extended exercise/homework

40 mins+.
Ask students to plan, write and edit their essay based on the information from the class. They may want to do
additional research. Ensure you give feedback on their finished work.

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