The Council Of Europe Will Take Control Of The Case Of Anatoly Kotov's Disappearance
- 9.10.2025, 18:25
Belarusian political scientist disappeared on August 21 in Turkey.
The Council of Europe will take control of the case of the disappearance of the Belarusian political scientist Anatol Kotau.
This was announced by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Bjørn Berge during his speech at the international sports conference Play the Game 2025 in the Finnish city of Tampere.
"We express our deep concern that Anatol Kotau disappeared under mysterious circumstances less than two months ago. At the Council of Europe, we will do everything we can - and sincerely hope that he will be found alive and safe," said Björn Berge.
Berge pointed out that many of those present remember Anatol Kotau from previous conferences when he spoke on behalf of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund.
Belarusian political scientist Anatol Kotau disappeared on August 21 in Turkey. Turkish media outlet IHA found that Kotov arrived in Istanbul from Warsaw on August 21 and flew to the Turkish city of Trabzon on the same day.
The Belarusian political scientist, according to the publication, left Turkey through the Trabzon sea border crossing on a flight at 18:35. The media published a photo of a Polish travel document for a foreigner (polski dokument podróży dla cudzoziemca) in the name of Anatoly Kotov.
The Istanbul bureau of Deutsche Welle managed to talk to a source in the Trabzon police. The source confirmed that Kotov left Trabzon on August 21, the day he arrived in Turkey. According to him, Kotov traveled to Sochi on a private yacht. It is known that there is no regular ferry service from this port. Cargo and fishing vessels, cruise ships and private boats leave from there. Theoretically, it is possible to get from Trabzon by sea to all countries in the Black Sea area, but the fastest way is to neighboring Georgia or Russia.
In the early 2000s, Anatoly Kotov worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2006 to 2015, he held various positions at the Belarusian Embassy in Poland, rising from third secretary to senior advisor to the ambassador.
In 2015, he returned to Minsk, where he moved from the Foreign Ministry to work at the National Olympic Committee, which at the time was personally headed by Alexander Lukashenko. Kotov first worked there as a leading specialist, but soon took the position of secretary general.
Then worked in Lukashenko's administration, where he took the position of deputy head of the department of financing state bodies of the Main Financial Department of the dictator's administration.
On August 18, 2020, Kotov resigned from Lukashenko's administration, the same day he signed an open letter of Belarusian athletes who spoke out against election fraud and condemned violence by security forces. Then he moved to Warsaw. In recent years, he cooperated with the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund.