Belarusian foreign minister dies suddenly

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey, died suddenly  on Saturday, news agency Belta has reported, citing the ministry’s spokesman, Anatoly Glaz. He had held his position for a decade.

The news outlet has not provided any details about the circumstances or causes of the 64-year-old's death. He was scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the coming days.

A career diplomat, Makey worked with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry since 1993 after graduating from Austria’s Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. He represented Belarus in the Council of Europe and served as an adviser to the Belarusian ambassador to Paris in the 1990s. 

In the 2000s, he worked as an aide to President Aleksandr Lukashenko and headed the presidential administration between 2008 and 2012 before taking up the position of foreign minister.

Just one day before his death, Makey met with the Vatican’s ambassador to Minsk, Ante Jozic. The meeting marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Belarus. The minister and the ambassador discussed bilateral relations, as well as the position of the Catholic Church in Belarus, the ministry said at the time.

In early November, the minister visited India, where he met with diplomats and entrepreneurs. Makey also discussed bilateral trade and economic cooperation with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, according to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. On the topic of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the two diplomats called for a “speedy resolution through peaceful means,” the ministry added.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is shocked by the news of the senior diplomat’s passing.