Minsk, 28 November 2022 (TDI): The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei passed away on 26th November. The Minister died suddenly at the age of 64.
Makei was scheduled to meet with Sergei Lavrov after attending a session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of numerous post-Soviet Republics, earlier this week in Yerevan.
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Makei. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus expressed sorrow and said that Makei was a true patriot.
The Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, Maldives, and Turkiye also expressed grief at the sudden death of Minister Makei.
Moreover, the Embassies of Belarus in Georgia, Syria, Romania, Kenya, Iran, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Qatar also stated their sadness.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Serbia expressed their condolences on the death of Vladimir Makei.
Vladimir Makei
Vladimir Makei was born in Belarus in 1958. He graduated in 1980 from the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages.
Makei was working as a Foreign Minister of Belarus since 2012. He was assistant to the President of Belarus before becoming a Foreign Minister from 2008-2012.
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He was one of the leaders to strengthen Belarus’ relations with the West and had criticized Russia before the presidential elections and significant anti-government rallies in Belarus in 2020.
After the protests, he changed his position and claimed that Western agents were responsible for their inspiration. Moreover, he was a supporter of close connections between Moscow and Minsk.
He claimed that the West had instigated the war and that the Ukrainian authorities should accept the Russian terms of peace after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February.
He pledged that there would be no attack on Ukraine from Belarusian territory a few days before the war began.
