Lavrov congratulated Aleinik on his appointment as Belarusian Foreign Minister

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a congratulatory telegram to Sergei Aleinik on the occasion of his appointment to the post of Foreign Minister of Belarus, the report says. message on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In his telegram, Lavrov noted Aleinik’s great contribution to the development of Russian-Belarusian relations as the first deputy foreign minister of the republic, and also expressed confidence that the fruitful allied relations between Moscow and Minsk would continue.

Aleinik was appointed to the post of head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry by decree of President Alexander Lukashenko on December 13. From 2009 to 2013 and from 2020 to 2022, Aleinik served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus. Since February 2022, he has served as First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic.

Earlier, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry was headed by Vladimir Makei. On November 26, he died at the age of 64. The Russian Foreign Ministry the next day published statementin which Makei was called an outstanding diplomat and a true patriot, who was a true friend of Russia and made a huge contribution to the development of relations between the two countries, including the integration building of the Union State.

Condolences to the family and friends of Makei were expressed then by Lavrov, who later noted that the death of his Belarusian colleague was completely unexpected for everyone.

“I think that we, of course, should learn lessons from this, we need to take care of each other, our allies, friends, relatives,” he said (quote according to TASS).