Makei served in the ministry as secretary of several departments: Information and Humanitarian Cooperation, Analysis and Forecast, Office of the Minister and State Protocol Service.

[11] Pavel Latushko, former ambassador to France and Poland, claimed that Makei expressed anti-Russian views in front of European and American diplomats, but after the 2020 elections he made a volte-face.

[12] Valery Sakhashchyk, a former Belarusian military officer serving in the United Transitional Cabinet stated that Makei, though having been “deformed by years of service to Lukashenko”, was "undoubtedly some kind of bridge with the West".

[20] He was given a state funeral on 29 November 2022 which was attended by Lukashenko in the Central House of Officers; he was buried in Minsk's Eastern Cemetery.

[21] In February 2023, Nasha Niva presented evidence with a claim that Makei had taken his own life four days after returning from a Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Armenia accompanying representatives of Vladimir Putin.

[22][23] The newspaper’s sources claimed that he had been denied attention from President Alexander Lukashenko, had realized that he was due to be replaced soon, and that “after his heights, he did not see himself anywhere else.” Furthermore, he was rumored to be having marital problems with his wife, Vera Polyakova.