Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has postponed a planned visit to Minsk following the death of his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei, according to Russian media reports quoting the foreign ministry.Belarus's state news agency Belta reported on Saturday that the long-standing foreign minister and associate of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko had died suddenly.
The cause of death wasn't given and Makei wasn't known to suffer from any chronic illness. Makei, 64, was due to meet Lavrov on Monday.
Last week he attended a conference of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) -- a military alliance of several post soviet states -- in Yerevan.Before the controversial presidential elections in Belarus in 2020 -- which were widely seen as rigged and triggered mass anti-government protests -- Makei had been one of the initiators of efforts to improve Belarus' relations with the West and had criticised Russia.However, he abruptly changed his stance after the start of the protests, saying they were inspired by agents of the West.
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, commenting on the minister's death called Makei a traitor to the Belarusian people."In 2020, Makei betrayed the Belarusian people and supported tyranny.