Belarus Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei was poisoned in a Kremlin sting operation, extraordinary new reports claim.
The veteran diplomat and former spy who died suddenly yesterday claimed he had been in secret contacts with the West over the war in Ukraine and preventing Belarus from being incorporated into Russia by Vladimir Putin.
A video shows Mecki, 64, appearing to be in good health on a military cargo plane to Belarus shortly before he died last week. He was not suffering from any chronic disease.
Some reports said that she had suffered a heart attack and her death has ‘shaken’ Alexander Lukashenko, who is now worried about his safety.
Belarus’ longtime foreign minister Vladimir Makei died suddenly, Belarusian state media reported yesterday.
Vladimir Putin (R) is said to want control of Belarus’ military and eliminating Meki would help break ties between Belarusian leader Lukashenko (L) and Western powers (President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia in September meets his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko) 26, 2022)
Meki was seen flying in a military plane in Belarus in good health a few days ago
Leonid Nevzlin, an oligarch and opposition critic of Putin, claimed that Meki was likely involved in the death.
Fearing assassination by Moscow, the tyrant has even replaced his cooks and servants, it is claimed.
Leonid Nevzlin, an enemy of Putin in exile, alleged that Meiki ‘died as a result of poison developed in an FSB special laboratory’.
Citing sources ‘close to the Russian special services’, he claimed: ‘The clinical picture in such cases corresponds to death from stroke or heart failure.’
Mecki was due to meet leading Western politicians and officials in Poland this week to attend an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting – a session from which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was banned.
Nevzlin claimed that the poisoning theory was ‘supported by the fact that the 64-year-old official had no health problems, was leading an active lifestyle and was making plans.
Nevzlin said, ‘When he suddenly had a heart ailment, he did not go to the doctors because he had not experienced such problems before and did not attach any importance to the pain.’
He quoted a Russian toxicologist who said: ‘It is very easy to poison a person so that everyone thinks he has died of natural causes.
‘This is enough to disrupt the balance of enzymes in his body – substances that ensure all processes, without exception, from blinking to breathing.’
Nevzlin added: ‘Meki’s death, essentially the second [most important] The man in the state, has caused consternation in the Belarusian nomenklatura circles.
‘But dictator Lukashenko is the most shaken. He has ordered the replacement of his cooks, servants and guards.
‘Lukashenko’s children have been given extra security. The dictator does not trust anyone.
Nevzlin concluded that Lukashenko fears that his alleged ally Putin is arranging a ‘magnificent funeral’ for him.
According to the Telegram channel General SVR, Makei’s alleged elimination severed Belarus’ remaining ties with the Western powers.
“It was planned, prepared and implemented on the personal initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the dissident Russian channel alleged.
‘No one really hides the fact that this is an assassination of Lukashenko.
‘The action was demonstrative and aimed at disrupting Lukashenko’s separate talks with the West and China.’
Makey assured them [Western] counterparts, and not without success, that Lukashenko was actually held hostage by Putin and forced to act “unpopular” under pressure from the Russian president and to preserve the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus. ‘
Lev Schlossberg, 59, 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 death of Vladimir Meki.’
Vera Polyakova-Mecki (L) has not commented on the death of her husband (R)
Vladimir Makei photographed with his wife Vera
Lev Schlossberg, a Russian opposition politician and human rights activist, claimed that Meki’s death was the result of a targeted operation. He said, “It is very difficult, almost impossible, to believe in the natural nature of the causes of the death of Vladimir Meki.”
The foreign minister’s widow, 44-year-old Vera Polyakova-Meki, an actress and head of the Minsk Youth Theater, has not commented on her husband’s death.
Lukashenko issued only a short statement expressing his condolences to his family and friends.
But the Belarusian political scientist Aleksey Dzerment denied that Mecki was murdered.
‘There are no facts that give reason to say so. In addition, he had a sufficient degree of protection and security.
‘The causes of his death are natural,’ said Dzermant.
Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov also claimed that ‘all the cooks and service personnel have been replaced’ at Lukashenko’s residence.
‘Sometimes it has to be done. There is a good reason to do it now,’ he said.
He added: ‘The Belarusian authorities have rejected Foreign Minister Makei’s versions of the poisoning.
‘ He said he started having heart problems. But the sudden death of a young, 64-year-old, prominent politician raised suspicions of murder.’
Mecki had held his position since 2012 and was not suffering from any chronic illness.
He was seen in good health at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) a few days ago in Yerevan, Armenia.
He died of shock a day before a scheduled meeting on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid Russian suspicions he had contacts with Western interlocutors on a back channel.
On Tuesday, Mecki was set to travel to the Polish city of Lodz, where he has been invited to attend an OSCE Council meeting with Western officials.
His invitation came as a surprise given Belarus’ complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Lavrov was not invited.
Mecki, 64 (L), had been in his post since 2012 and was not suffering from any chronic illness. He was due to meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov (right) on Monday
Makei is pictured with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Vladimir Meki, is pictured with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Before the presidential election and mass anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, Maki was one of the initiators of efforts to improve Belarus’ relations with the West and criticized Russia.
However, he changed his stance after the protests were brutally crushed, saying they were inspired by agents of the West.
After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, Mäki emphasized a pro-Kremlin stance, claiming that the West had provoked the war and that Ukrainian officials should agree to Russian terms of peace.
A few days before the start of the war, Makei promised that there would be no attacks on Ukraine from the territory of Belarus. A few days later, Russian soldiers proved him wrong.
a statement made by meki In September the UN Security Council explained the strange position Belarus occupies in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
‘Belarus is also known as an ‘accomplice of the aggressor’ or a party to the conflict. We have said and continue to say: Belarus has never advocated war. But we are not traitors either,’ he said in reference to Belarus’ close alliance with Russia.
‘We have relevant commitments, and we are strictly following and will follow the spirit and letter of the international treaties to which we are party.’
