https://www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...foreign-affairs-vladimir-makei_6005949_4.html
The sudden and unexplained death of Belarussian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei
Vladimir Makei, 64, was a loyal supporter of Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko and had no known chronic illnesses.
By
Faustine Vincent
Published on November 29, 2022, at 12:32 am (Paris), updated on November 29, 2022, at 9:39 am
Time to 2 min.
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Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei speaks during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart in Moscow on November 10, 2021. YURI KOCHETKOV / AFP
What happened to the Belarusian foreign minister? The sudden death of Vladimir Makei, 64, was announced on Saturday, November 26, with no reason given by the authorities. "The Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei died suddenly," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs simply said on Saturday. Mr. Makei, who was married with three children, had held the post since 2012 and had no known chronic illnesses.
Mr. Makei was supposed to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Minsk on Monday, November 28. The visit by a foreign affairs minister was postponed after the announcement of Mr. Makei's death. Belarus is a close ally of Russia, offering its territory to the latter to conduct its war against Ukraine.
In a statement, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Makei. For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it "deeply mourns the untimely death" of an "exceptional" statesman, a "true patriot" and "true friend" of Russia. "In 2020, Vladimir Makei betrayed the Belarusian people and supported tyranny. This is how Belarusians will remember him," said the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya.
'A loss for Lukashenko'
The foreign affairs minister, considered the main channel of communication between Belarus and Western countries, was a loyal supporter of Mr. Lukashenko and was his (political) chief of staff before becoming foreign minister in 2012. He was the only high-ranking politician to have survived the purge carried out by the Belarusian leader in 2020 after his disputed re-election, which triggered historic demonstrations that were brutally suppressed.
"Vladimir Makei spent many years whitewashing Lukashenko in the West and covering up his crimes," said Franak Viacorka, an advisor to Ms. Tsikhanovskaya, on Saturday. "He is considered the author of the strategy consisting of balancing relations between the West and Russia. This is undoubtedly a loss for Lukashenko. But he was never close to the Belarusians."
In February, sometime before the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Mr. Makei had assured that "not a single" Russian soldier would remain in Belarus after the joint maneuvers with Moscow on the Ukrainian border. However, on February 24, Russian troops invaded the country from Belarus.
Since then, Belarus has served as a rear base for the Russian army, but Mr. Lukashenko has tried not to involve his troops directly in the conflict, while pledging allegiance to Vladimir Putin, to whom he owes his political survival since his re-election. In September, Mr. Makei defended Belarus' position at the United Nations, saying that "the West [...] should take full responsibility for the ongoing bloodshed in Ukraine" because it "made this conflict inevitable."
According to journalist and analyst Denis Kazakiewicz, an expert on the former Soviet republic, "events in Belarus could accelerate dramatically" after the death of Mr. Makei, whose role was "crucial in maintaining some sort of balance for Lukashenko."
Faustine Vincent
Translation of an original article published in French on
lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.
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want to murder Lukashenko 
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war, despite Putin’s best efforts.
