The son of a groom and a librarian

The official biography of Vladimir Makei has always been dry and concise.

Even the place of birth of the official was not mentioned, it was written simply "Horadenskaya oblast".

Only in 2011, journalists unearthed that he was born in the village of Nekrashevichy, Karelitsky district.

Mackay's family was quite poor, even by village standards.

Father Vladimir worked as a groom, and mother Faina - a librarian.

Makei also has a sister Natalya, who lives in Baranavichy, she has never held any government positions.

When the official's mother died, it was his sister who took care of his father in recent years.

Service in the intelligence service of the USSR

Vladimir Makei graduated from the Minsk Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages.

After that, there is a big gap in Mackay's biography.

It is only reported that from 1980 to 1991 he served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, reaching the rank of colonel.

What functions and where Mackay performed is a mystery.

In 2011, the newspaper "Nasha Niva" wrote from the words of Makei's fellow villagers that he fought in Afghanistan and was even wounded, but there was no confirmation of this.

In 1992-1993, Vladimir Makei completed short-term courses at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria.

It is hard to call it a full-fledged education, but for a long time it was believed that he was almost the only official who had studied in the West.

His diplomatic career began in 1993.

In 1996-1999, he was the representative of Belarus at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Opposition politicians said that during that period Mackay did not avoid meetings with him.

From 2000 to 2008, he was Lukashenka's assistant in matters of foreign policy.

He replaced Shayman

In 2008, Vladimir Makei began to appear in his first roles, when he replaced Viktor Sheiman as the head of the Presidential Administration.

These personnel decisions were made immediately after the July 3 Republic Day terrorist attack.

Makei appeared in public for the first time in the autumn of 2008, when he visited the Minsk Forum, which was traditionally organized by the center named after Johannes Rau.

There, the head of the Administration answered pressing questions from various sides, and also had a separate meeting with the leader of the opposition, Alexander Milinkevich.

Another signal from Makei about political liberalization was the creation of an advisory council under the Presidential Administration, which included the chairman of TBM Aleg Trusau, honorary chairman of the UGP Stanislav Bagdankevich, economist Leonid Zaika.

However, that body could not fully work.

On the eve of the 2010 elections, Makei said on Russian TV that the opposition was preparing explosions in Minsk.

After the crackdown on Ploscha and the arrest of opposition candidates, Makei came under the sanctions of the European Union.

He wore an embroidered shirt

In August 2012, Vladimir Makei became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he held this position until his death.

Sanctions were soon lifted from him so that he could visit European countries.

The period from 2014 to the first half of 2020 was considered a time of political liberalization and improvement of relations with the West.

Mackay played a significant role in this, he constantly met with his colleagues and other European politicians.

In 2015, Makei had a big visit to Ukraine, where he met with President Petro Poroshenko, as well as the head of the Odesa region, Mikhail Saakashvili.

At those meetings, the minister said that Belarus continues to consider the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as Ukraine, and that there will never be an attack on the neighboring country from the territory of Belarus.

Mackay started the tradition of receptions for diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in embroidered shirts.

He put on an embroidered shirt.

He spoke near Pogonia at the convention of the "Batskaushchyna" Association of Belarusians of the World.

He called the Belarusian language "the foundation of independence".

He himself spoke Belarusian well, always answered Belarusian-language questions from journalists in Belarusian.

In the comments of Euroradio, he admitted that he reads books in Belarusian by Syarhei Piasetskyi and Andrus Horvat.

It was Makey who had the idea for visa-free visits to Belarus by citizens of the European Union, the United States and other countries.

He promised the destruction of civil society

In 2020, during mass protests against election falsification and violence by security forces, Makei completely took the position of Lukashenka.

People who expressed their protest about the events in the country were dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, people came out with the slogan "Make, don't do."

In August, the minister made a statement that Belarus advocates "evolutionary development without external interference."

In September 2020, Makei's eldest son Vital, who worked in the main office of multilateral diplomacy, resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

No one has confirmed whether this dismissal was related to the events in Ukraine or not.

For some time, Mackay still had contacts with his foreign colleagues, but they became less and less.

In 2021, the minister's rhetoric changed noticeably, for example, he could call Lithuania a "pygmy country", he called oppositionists who were forced to leave the country due to persecution "fugitive vermin".

It was Makei who announced in the spring of 2021 that civil society in Belarus would be destroyed if the sanctions were not lifted, and that is exactly what happened.

He promised that the Russians would leave Belarus

A few days before the start of the war in Ukraine, Makei assured that all Russian soldiers would leave the country after the end of the Belarusian-Russian exercises.

In the week of Mackey's death, he visited Yerevan, where he took part in the CSTO summit, the official got there by transport plane.

In his personal life, Mackay was married twice.

His current wife was actress, TV presenter, head of the Theater of Young Spectators Vera Polyakova.

He had a son from each of his marriages.

The eldest son Vitaly already has the most children.

The youngest son Artem is 13 years old.