The Government of Belarus Sunday forced a Ryanair Boeing 737 en route from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lituania which was flying over their territory to land and make the arrest of 26-year-old dissident journalist Roman Protasevich possible.
Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, said on Monday he would be ready to hold new elections and hand over power after a constitutional referendum, an attempt to pacify mass protests and strikes that pose the biggest challenge yet to his rule.