Belarus foreign minister's "sudden" death drives speculation

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics.

What's really happening in Belarus?

Well, a mysterious thing happened. I mean, the foreign minister, Mr. Makei, who's been healthy and no problem whatsoever, died very, very suddenly the other day. He's been a loyal lieutenant of Lukashenko, no question about that. Also, during the sort of, the crackdown time over the last few years, but he has been under the cover, he has sort of been maneuvering. And he's been, in private conversation with me and others, very, very explicit on Moscow's imperial designs. So, there's a lot of speculation what really happened. And according to rumors, these are rumors, Mr. Lukashenko has changed all of his kitchen staff lately.

What's going to happen during the Macron visit to the White House?

Well, a lot of pomp and circumstances as is normally the case with a state visit. But there is severe tension that is caused by the different approaches that have been taken by the Biden administration, slightly protectionist approaches when it comes to subsidies of different sorts, which is hurting European business, and which is causing a fairly fierce debate in Europe how to react. Whether there can be a rapprochement or not on this remains to be seen. On Ukraine, they will certainly see eye to eye.