The Foreign Minister of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, died on Saturday at the age of 64.
“Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, has suddenly passed away today,” the Foreign Ministry said in its official Facebook account, without providing more details about the circumstances surrounding the foreign minister’s death, according to CNN.
Makei was born in 1958 in the Belarusian region of Grodno. He had been in the post since August 2012, according to his official bio on the foreign ministry’s website.
He had been scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti reported.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Makei.
"We are shocked by the reports of the death of the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "Official condolences will be published soon."
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, Makei, a supporter of close ties between Moscow and Minsk, said the West had provoked the war and that the Ukrainian authorities should agree to the Russian terms of peace, reported Reuters.