In his position as Chief of the Main Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Armed Forces, Andrei Gurtsevich is responsible for the decision taken by the Command of the Air Forces and Air Defence Forces, on Lukashenka's instructions, to dispatch military aircraft to escort the forced landing of passenger flight FR4978 in Minsk airport without proper justification on 23 May 2021. This politically motivated decision was aimed at arresting and detaining opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega and is a form of repression against civil society and democratic opposition in Belarus. Following the incident, he gave press statements justifying the actions of the Belarusian authorities. He is therefore responsible for the repression of civil society and democratic opposition in Belarus, and is supporting the Lukashenka regime.