Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, ally to President Lukashenko, dies at 64

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, a close ally of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, has died at age 64, the state news agency Belta reported on Saturday.

No cause of death was given.

Before he became foreign minister in 2012, Makei was Lukashenko’s chief of staff.

During his tenure, Belarus came under repeated criticism from the West for an increasingly harsh suppression of the opposition, for dubious elections and for allowing Russian troops to be based there during the war in Ukraine.