Turkish Media: Missing Belarusian Political Scientist Anatoly Kotov Left Turkey

He reportedly left the country through the Trabzon sea border crossing.

Belarusian political scientist Anatoli Kotov, who went missing in Turkey, left the country through the Trabzon sea border crossing, the Turkish media outlet IHA writes.

The former employee of Lukashenko's administration arrived in Istanbul from Warsaw on August 21 and flew to the Turkish city of Trabzon the same day.

The publication writes that Kotov left Turkey through the Trabzon sea border crossing on a flight at 18:35. It is unknown whether he passed the border by himself or accompanied by other persons.

IHA attached to the article a photo of a Polish travel document for foreigners (polski dokument podróży dla cudzoziemca) in the name of Anatoli Kotov.

One of the versions of the disappearance of the former official is illegal removal from the country by Belarusian or Russian security services. In Belarus, Anatoly Kotov was sentenced to 12 years in prison because he switched to opposition to the government in August 2020.

In the early 2000s, Anatoly Kotov worked at 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 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.

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