During the contested presidential election of 2020, Vladimir Makei “betrayed the Belarusian people and embraced dictatorship,” according to the exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

The long-serving foreign minister of Belarus has died “suddenly,” according to the country’s main news agency.

Vladimir Makei, who held the position since 2012, was 64 years old.

Earlier this week, he attended a seminar in the Armenian city of Yerevan and was scheduled to see Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.

“Foreign minister Vladimir Makei has died unexpectedly,” the news agency Belta said, without providing any other information.

Mr. Makei was not known to have a chronic condition.

Mr. Makei had been among those attempting to enhance Belarus’s relations with the West before the 2020 presidential elections sparked huge anti-government demonstrations.

He had criticized Russia as well.

However, once the protests began, he stated that they were inspired by Western agents.

And once Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, he asserted that the West was to blame for the conflict.

A few days before it began, on February 24, he stated that there would be no invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory, but he was soon proven wrong.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, stated that her country was “shocked” to learn of Mr. Makei’s death.

Despite the protests in 2020, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has also offered his condolences.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, an exiled opposition leader, stated, “In 2020, Makei betrayed the Belarusian people and embraced despotism.

This is how the people of Belarus will remember him.