Dzjanis Sidarenka served as Ambassador to Germany from 2016 until 2024. In March, he was dismissed by decree of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko. Upon his return to Belarus, he was not handed a new position in the Foreign Ministry.

“Sidarenka committed suicide by throwing himself from a high altitude from a block of flats in Minsk,” Belarusian weekly Nasha Niva reported, citing anonymous sources.

According to them, after returning from his mission in Germany, Sidarenka “became a target of the State Security Committee (KGB).”

“He was practically never free from interrogations and polygraph examinations,” the website added.

According to @nashaniva, former #Belarus ambassador to 🇩🇪 Sidarenka committed suicide. Known for his liberal views & support for engagement with Western diplomats, he was subjected to interrogations, polygraph tests & special scrutiny by regime security forces after his return. pic.twitter.com/Hz3HEoO5yD

— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) June 26, 2024

The weekly reported that the KGB has intensified its scrutiny of all professional diplomats returning to Minsk following assignments in EU member states.

The case of Sidarenka is not an isolated incident. Nasha Niva noted that Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei passed away in November 2022, followed by Transport Minister Aleksey Avramenko in 2023. In both instances, suicide has been unofficially suggested as a possible cause of death.