KYIV, Ukraine • Belarus’ authoritarian president lashed out Wednesday at Europe for trying to “strangle” his country with sanctions over the diversion of a passenger jet, and he accused a dissident journalist arrested after the flight landed in Minsk of working to foment a “bloody rebellion.”

In a long, rambling speech to lawmakers and top officials, President Alexander Lukashenko defended his decision to tell the Ryanair flight to land in his country, maintaining his contention that there was a bomb threat against it. He called it an “absolute lie” that a fighter jet he scrambled forced the plane to land.

European Union leaders have denounced the move as an act of air piracy. Ryanair has said its crew was instructed to land. The plane was searched on the ground, and no bomb was found — but Raman Pratasevich, a 26-year-old journalist and activist, and his Russian girlfriend were detained.

“I acted in a lawful way, protecting people in line with international rules,” said the 66-year-old Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet nation with an iron fist for more than a quarter century, relentlessly stifling dissent.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko addresses the Parliament in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Lukashenko is defending his action to divert a European flight that triggered bruising European Union sanctions and accused the West of waging a “hybrid war” to “strangle” the ex-Soviet nation. On Sunday, May 23, 2021, Belarusian flight controllers ordered a Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Vilnius to land in the country’s capital, Minsk because of a bomb threat and a Belarusian fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane. (Sergei Shelega/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

Sergei Shelega