According to the state news agency Belta, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makej died unexpectedly. The agency reported a “sudden death” on Saturday, without giving further details. Makej was 64 years old. The diplomat had been foreign minister under President Alexander Lukashenko since 2012. In 1992-93 he was in Vienna and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy.
Makej has long campaigned for an improvement in his country’s relations with the West and has also criticized its ally, Russia. However, he backed away from this course after mass popular protests against the presidential election in 2020. He described the protests as a campaign by Western agents.
Belarus, the closest ally of its neighbor Russia, has been sanctioned by Western states for human rights violations and the repression of opposition figures. The country supports Russia in its war against the common neighbor Ukraine, but does not take part in the invasion itself.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was shocked by the news of Makej’s death. “We are shocked by the reports of the death of Belarus’ foreign minister,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Lukashenko has been in power in the former Soviet republic for more than a quarter of a century.