The foreign minister of a close ally of Vladimir Putin’s Russia has died suddenly shortly before he was meant to meet with Western officials.
Belarus’ Vladimir Makei, 64, was just days away from heading to Lodz, Poland, to attend the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Ministerial Council.
Russia is banned from the meeting and was allegedly suspicious Makei may have been engaging in back-channel communications with Western officials.
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His death is being increasingly claimed to have been under suspicious circumstances.
Other reports claim Russia is seeking to install a new, more obedient Belarusian leader than the current dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Lev Shlosberg, a Russian opposition politician and human rights activist, said: “It is very difficult, almost impossible, to believe in the natural nature of the causes of the death of Vladimir Makei.”
Makei met with Putin in Armenia last week, along with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. He was seemingly healthy before his death.
The former Soviet-era GRU military intelligence spy was due to host Lavrov in Minsk today (Sunday, November 27) and tomorrow.
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He had not been allowed to travel back from Armenia with Lukashenko in his presidential jet and was instead made to fly in a military cargo flight where temperatures were 10C.
Pro-Putin political analyst Sergey Markov said Makei’s death will harm the West’s alleged efforts to bring Belarus away from Russia and towards NATO.
“Why did Lukashenko keep him as head of the Foreign Ministry? Because he hoped that it would be needed as a channel of communication with the West? And now the channel is gone,” he said.
“The deceased Belarusian Foreign Minister Makei was the main favourite of the West for the post of pro-Western head of Belarus, after the departure of Lukashenko.
“His death is a symbol of the impossibility of the Belarusian course to break away from Russia and an alliance with the West.”
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