Russia said Friday that Western countries were being irresponsible and endangering passengers by banning flights over Belarus in response to Alexander Lukashenko's forced grounding of a Ryanair flight. "What the West has done by introducing a ban on flights through Belarusian airspace for political reasons is completely irresponsible and endangers the safety of passengers," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. jbr/mm/yad