Former Belarusian ambassador to Germany who was recalled by Lukashenko dies under unclear circumstances

On June 26, Belarusian media reported that diplomat Denis Sidorenko, who served as the country’s former ambassador to Germany until his dismissal in March, had died two days earlier. Some outlets reported that the diplomat had died of a heart attack, while others said it was a suicide. The authorities soon confirmed Sidorenko’s death, but the details surrounding it are still unclear; according to some sources, it occurred after the former ambassador was subjected to intense scrutiny by the Belarusian KGB. Here’s what we know so far.

On Wednesday evening, Belarus’s Foreign Ministry reported that a memorial service had been held in Minsk for Belarusian diplomat Denis Sidorenko. Sidorenko served as the country’s ambassador to Germany for eight years — from 2016 to 2024 — before he was dismissed by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on March 11.

Neither the cause of Sidorenko’s death nor its exact date have been officially reported. “Today in Minsk, a farewell service was held for our dear colleague Denis Sidorenko. A talented and responsible diplomat, a true professional and a patriot, he earned the well-deserved respect of his colleagues and partners both in the Republic of Belarus and far beyond its borders,” read the statement. “This is a big loss for the diplomatic family of Belarus.”

Belarusian news outlets, including major independent ones like Zerkalo and Nasha Niva, noted that the authorities did not acknowledge Sidorenko’s death until reports about it appeared in the media. About an hour and a half before the Foreign Ministry’s statement, the outlet Pozirk reported that the diplomat had died of a heart attack on June 24 at the age of 48.

Nasha Niva, meanwhile, reported that Sidorenko’s death had occurred a day earlier, on June 23 — and that it had been a suicide. “He jumped from a Minsk apartment high-rise,” the newspaper wrote. According to the outlet’s sources, Sidorenko had not received a new post after returning from Germany and had come under the intense scrutiny of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB).

The sources asserted that Sidorenko had “constantly been undergoing polygraph tests and interrogations” in the leadup to his death. Nasha Niva noted that all diplomats that return to Belarus from the E.U. are subjected to thorough checks by the country’s security services. One of the outlet’s sources said that it was this scrutiny that led to the former ambassador’s suicide: “Evidently, [he] couldn’t withstand what was happening.”

The reports that Sidorenko died by suicide have not been independently confirmed. However, opposition politician Pavel Latushko, who previously served as Belarus’s ambassador to France, told Zerkalo that Sidorenko had indeed had problems with polygraph tests:

They were considering the issue of his appointment to the central apparatus of the Foreign Ministry. I’m not prepared to say what position it was for, but he was undergoing a polygraph. And, as far as I understand, he wasn’t able to pass it the first time. This caused certain difficulties. As a result, in a situation like this, they have you take a second polygraph test. I don’t know what the results of the subsequent test were.

He also noted that the decision to hire or dismiss an official from Belarus’s diplomatic service is made not by the foreign minister but by the KGB, which thoroughly checks employees for loyalty to the country’s ruling regime.

Latushko said he believes that Sidorenko’s death was due to health problems exacerbated by severe stress. “I think the main cause of death was psychological, triggered by the stressful employment situation,” he told Zerkalo. “Imagine a person who has always been inclined towards normal relations with Europe taking a polygraph test and being asked how he feels about Lukashenko and whether he respects him. This is speculation, of course, but it’s safe to assume there were some problems with his answers.”

Other former Belarusian Foreign Ministry employees who spoke to Zerkalo described Sidorenko as a “diplomat with a capital D” and a person who “could become the face of Belarusian diplomacy.” It’s unclear why he was removed from his post in Germany.

One former ministry official who is a former classmate of Sidorenko told Zerkalo that the dismissal also meant a reduction in Belarus’s diplomatic presence in Germany. “Why they removed him, knowing that Germany might not agree to a new ambassador, is unclear to me,” he said. “Most likely, there are some hidden channels of communication that are unknown to the public where discussions about certain agreements are happening.”