According to the state news agency Belta, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makej has 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 the 1990s 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 ally Russia. However, he backed off from this course following massive popular protests against the 2020 presidential election. He described the protests as a campaign by Western agents.
Belarus supports the Kremlin in the invasion
Belarus, the closest ally of its neighbor Russia, has been penalized by Western states for human rights violations and the repression of opposition members. The country supports Russia in its war against its common neighbor Ukraine, but does not take part in the invasion itself.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was shocked by news of Makej’s death. “We are shocked by the reports of the death of the foreign minister of Belarus,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic for more than a quarter of a century.
Source: Krone
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