Kotau’s dangerous connections: How the Belarusian opposition figure disappeared and who was involved

During a conversation with journalists, a friend of the missing Belarusian politician Anatol Kotau, recalled a remark Kotau had made at his birthday party, one year before the publication of this investigation.

“He told me that things might change in a couple of months and that we would be able to go home. He dropped this phrase. He said the exact same thing two months later when we last saw each other,” recalls civic activist Ruslan Khazin.

A few days before he disappeared, Kotau told several other acquaintances that they would all be returning home soon. At roughly the same time, in early August 2025, he mentioned a significant meeting in Türkiye he was preparing for, but he did not provide any specifics. According to people close to him, the event had been rescheduled several times. He last mentioned to his wife that the trip had been postponed on August 11, ten days before he finally flew to Türkiye.

Enemy of the state

Anatol Kotau started his career in state service in the early 2000s. He was employed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs central office, the Belarusian Embassy in Poland, and the Presidential Executive Office. In 2015, Kotau became secretary general of the National Olympic Committee, which was formally headed by Aleksandr Lukashenko. Then, he took a step down by becoming deputy head of the II European Games 2019 Directorate foundation.

In 2019, Kotau left government service for a year to try his hand at business. He then returned to public office, but in an even lower-ranking position: deputy head of a department within the Central Office of Financial Services under the Belarus President Property Management Directorate. At the time, Viktar Sheiman headed the agency. Amid mass protests on August 17, 2020, Kotau resigned, explaining that he wanted “the state to be effective, progressive, and responsive to the needs of its citizens.” Like other officials who had supported the protests, he soon left the country. He settled in Poland, where he tried his hand at business and worked at the National Anti-Crisis Management. However, he left that position amid a scandal.

While in exile, Kotau became a vocal critic of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Pavel Latushka. At the same time, he continued to speak out against repression in Belarus and the country’s involvement in the war against Ukraine. His most notable media project was the Telegram channel Nick and Mike, which provided insider information about government agencies and Lukashenko’s personal life. Concurrently, he maintained an affiliation with the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund. According to those close to him, Kotau became enthusiastic about using his contacts in the sports community to facilitate dialogue between Minsk and Western diplomats regarding the release of political prisoners. He met with aides to the ambassadors in Warsaw and Vilnius, hinting that he had insiders in Belarus, and sometimes announced future releases in advance.

In July 2024, it was reported that the Brest Regional Court had sentenced Kotau in absentia to 12 years in a penal colony..

“As someone who spent many years working within the state system, I certainly understood that people like me were viewed by the regime simply as enemies, whereas people like him were seen as traitors — something the regime regards as far more serious,” Ales Michalevic, 2010 presidential candidate and lawyer, told the BIC, explaining the Belarusian authorities’ attitude toward Anatol Kotau.

Four people on a  yacht

We established that Anatol Kotau’s disappearance was the outcome of a planned operation. Shells, a 30-meter motor yacht with eight berths in four cabins, was chartered for this purpose.

The yacht captain was unemployed in the summer of 2025. He was hired for a single voyage. One of the main requirements for this one-off job was  not to speak Russian. The rest of the crew was selected using the same criteria for the trip: three Turkish men and one Dutch stewardess. This might have surprised the hired crew since the clients were Russian speakers.

They included Yury Puzikau, a 40-year-old Belarusian Kyokushin karate coach and referee, as well as Qahira Eynalova, a Russian-speaking Azerbaijani woman with Jordanian citizenship. She is around 50 years old, and her occupation is unknown to us.

Two Russian men represented the trip’s organizers. The first was Yuriy Golovanov, a short, stocky man in his early 50s. He has a crooked nose, as if from an old fracture. Golovanov previously served as head of human resources at OOO Baltiskaya Zvezda. This St. Petersburg-based company specializes in luxury vehicle rentals for VIP events. The second Russian, Petr Grib, was the oldest in the group at about 60 years old. He has short dark hair, graying at the temples. Above-average height. He is employed at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi and serves as an assistant to a member of the local council who was born in Belarus.

Golovanov and Grib arrived in Istanbul nearly a week before the trip scheduled for August 11.. However, a malfunction was discovered during a test run as the date approached, so the trip was postponed by ten days.

Operation “Legacy”

On the morning of August 21, 2025, Anatol Kotau is about to leave his Warsaw apartment and head to the airport. He packs a blue suitcase with a few belongings, his phone, and his laptop. He seems noticeably nervous while packing. To his wife, he says it’s a work trip; at work, he says it’s for personal reasons. Kotau flies to Trabzon, Türkiye, with a layover in Istanbul, and arrives at the port in the evening. Around 7:00 p.m., he boards the yacht Shells with Qahira Eynalova.

The vessel  had docked around 10 a.m., nine hours earlier. On board were the Russians Golovanov and Grib, as well as the Belarusian Puzikau. The latter went ashore and never returned to the vessel.

The official route, which the captain had declared in advance to port officials, was from Trabzon to the Russian port of Sochi.. However, the unofficial instructions were to sail to Sukhumi, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia. The yacht docks there in the afternoon on August 22. The organizers described the purpose of the trip as visiting a picturesque monastery and taking part in a spiritual ceremony.

By that time, Russia had already placed Kotau on an interstate wanted list, so he remained at risk of arrest even outside the Russian Federation. [*] He also faced arrest in Abkhazia due to the close cooperation between its security forces and Russia’s. We do not know whether he agreed to such a trip — and if he did, why. 

Eynalova explains it as follows:

“First, we went to Georgia. We wanted to go to a casino to gamble. Then they got drunk, changed [the plans], and said: ‘No, let’s go to this other place.’.’ After that, I don’t know what they were arguing about or what they were doing. It is not my business. We were just sitting on our own, enjoying ourselves. They were talking, doing something, and that’s it — we went to Russia, they disembarked and left.”

In other words, according to Eynalova, Kotau got off the yacht with the other passengers, and she hasn’t heard from him since.

However, other sources describe the morning of August 22 differently: the yacht first approached the shore near Sukhumi. Then the Russians ordered it to turn around and ship to the port of Ochamchira. This is also the Abkhazian coast, but farther south. There is an FSB border guard unit base there. While Kotau was sleeping in his cabin, the captain called the port and requested permission to dock. He was told to wait at sea and not approach the fishermen until the transfer boat arrived. However, instead of a transfer boat, a Russian Coast Guard vessel approached the yacht. According to satellite images, a patrol boat left the Russian base at around 12:30 p.m. Georgian time and turned north toward the yacht Shells a few minutes later. The Coast Guard was called by the Russian passengers on the yacht. They claimed that Anatol Kotau had gotten drunk that night and allegedly attacked and beaten them.

The Russian FSB border guards then boarded the yacht, burst into Kotau’s cabin, and took him out. They ordered the captain to remove the Belarusian from the passenger list and transferred Kotau to their vessel . Then, they sailed away.

The rest of the passengers remained on the yacht. The Russians told the captain to head to Sukhumi. They disembarked there and then headed to Russia. Eynalova was the only one who returned to Trabzon. The yacht’s crew was fired after the voyage.

We are unaware of whether Kotau was conscious when it became clear that the yacht was heading out to the open sea. According to Eynalova, he fell asleep after having drinks with the Russians. According to other accounts, he was nauseous.. At the same time, Kotau’s acquaintances insist that he was not inclined to physical violence, either sober or drunk. None of the people we asked could remember any incidents like that involving him.

The BIC verified all the details we have reported in more than one way. Documents and recorded conversations with sources are in the editorial team’s possession.

Arms dealers

At least one of the four individuals involved in the operation may have been known to Anatol Kotau. From 2017 to 2020, Belarusian karate athlete Yury Puzikau was employed by the Sports Public Association Vozrozhdenie, an organization familiar to the former official. The organization’s social media accounts feature photos of Kotau. In one of them, he poses with Puzikau’s wife, who would later become an employee of the organization. Puzikau also appeared on Vozrozhdenie’s social media accounts himself. Since we couldn’t find any photos of him with Kotau, we can’t confirm that they knew each other.

Additionally, we don’t know if Kotau was aware of the other activities of the Vozrozhdenie members besides charity work. After reviewing the biographies of the organization’s leaders, it became clear that they had ties to one of the most secretive and opaque sectors of the business world. From 2017 to 2019, three different people served as the head of Vozrozhdenie. [*] The first was Yury Nazaranka, a former employee of the KGB Directorate for the Homel Region. He was followed by Yury Serykh, who previously served at the KGB central office and later at the Operations and Analysis Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus. The last of the three leaders  was Valery Andreyeu. We found a photo of Andreyeu posing with Anatol Kotau. Andreyeu also worked at the Operations and Analysis Center.

What unites all three men is not just their past in the security services. Nazarenka, the first head of Vozrozhdenie, was one of the founders of  the Belarusian company TAA BTS Global in 2018. Andreyeu, the third head of the association, worked at this company in 2019. Serykh is the owner of the company to this day. [*] With the support of the State Authority for Military Industry of Belarus, BTS Global manufactures and sells drones that were demonstrated at various events, including the Zapad-2025 military exercises. [*]

Nine BTS Global employees also worked at various times at the Belarusian office of the Emirati Tres International Free Zone Company. Tres International Free Zone Company was registered in offices adjacent to BTS Global’s. [*] Vozrozhdenie moved into BTS Global’s vacated office in 2019. Both companies employed Puzikau, a karate athlete who was on the yacht Shells, and his wife. [*]

Thanks to the Rabochy Rukh initiative, we discovered that Kotau was acquainted with a key figure in the entire network. Yury Serykh, a former KGB employee and ex-head of Vozrozhdenie, and the current owner of BTS Global, was supposed to attend the Kotaus’ wedding as a friend. [*] However, the ceremony never took place because the Kotaus left Belarus. A donation agreement for 14,000 Belarusian rubles (approximately $6,700) was drawn up in Serykh’s name for the organization where Kotau worked. [*] Vozrozhdenie’s social media accounts also contain photos of Kotau and Serykh together. We don’t know how the two men met, but perhaps it was at the National Olympic Committee. Serykh was working there when Kotau served as the organization’s secretary-general.

Additionally, Serykh’s then-wife worked at the NOC while Kotau was there.. During their time working together, traveled with her by car  to Lithuania. Vital Biryn, a NOC driver, was behind the wheel. He later moved on to work at BTS Global and then Tres International. [*]

We found an indirect link between the people described in this section and another participant in the operation involving Kotau’s abduction — the Russian national Yuriy Golovanov.From 2015 to 2016, he transferred between $600 and $1,000 to a colleague of Biryn’s at least once every two months.

The HR Man and the Operative

The BIC uncovered facts suggesting that Golovanov has or had ties to the security  services. For example, the Russian man went by the surname Tskiria until 2015. Under that name, he sent money to another Belarusian listed on the Myrotvorets website as a Wagner Group mercenary.

Golovanov is also likely connected to the attempted “coup” in Kyrgyzstan in 2023. Local law enforcement released footage of the suspects’ arrest that shows a business card belonging to Russian neo-Nazi Sergei Voitsinskii. A few weeks before the alleged attempt to seize power by force, Voitsinskii indeed flew to Bishkek. The person who bought his plane ticket also made a ticket reservation in Golovanov’s name at the same time.

At least in 2024, Golovanov worked for the St. Petersburg–based company Baltiyskaya Zvezda. The website describes its activities as “organizing transportation services for events attended by representatives of the executive and legislative branches, as well as executives from major international and national corporations.” The detailed list of services includes the provision of motorcades with security personnel, among other things. Golovanov was in charge of recruitment. We found no direct evidence that he ever worked for the security services.

By contrast, the older of the Russians involved in the operation — 56-year-old Petr Grib — has much more obvious ties both to security structures and Belarusian arms dealers.

A real security-service man

At the time of the operation and publication of this investigation, Grib was the head of security at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi. In 2004, he became commander of Military Unit 3219 of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Internal Troops, which is known for its involvement in combat operations in the North Caucasus. Later, Grib collaborated with several private security firms and personally delivered humanitarian aid to Russian troops in Ukraine.

Grib is the director of the Tsiklon Service Testing Center (ANO "SITS "TSIKLON"). Its first director was Aleksey Budnev, president of the Russian Club of Veterans of Special Naval Intelligence (Klub veteranov spetsrazvedki VMF). Budnev is responsible for organizing the “Path of Courage” sports and patriotic event in Russia. The sports association Vozrozhdenie held a similar event in Belarus using the same logo. [*]

In other words, Puzikau (Belarusian) and Golovanov and Grib (Russians), who organized the trip during which Kotau was handed over to Russian security forces, are somehow connected to veterans of the Belarusian KGB and the Operations and Analysis Center. We have not yet been able to confirm the connection of one participant in the operation to these organizations. This participant is a woman who boarded the yacht in Trabzon alongside a Belarusian politician.

Love and money

During an interview with reporters, Qahira Eynalova, the fourth passenger on the yacht Shells, revealed that she was in a romantic relationship with Anatol Kotau. The editorial team also has their correspondence and a 2023 photo in which Kotau has his arm around Eynalova.. In other words, they had known each other long before the events of August 2025.

Eynalova claims that Kotau borrowed €5,000 from her. While we cannot verify that the debt existed, we do possess evidence suggesting that he may have received funds shortly before traveling to Türkiye. About a week before his departure, on August 13, 2025, Kotau approached a UAE businessman he knew and asked for an unusual favor. He requested the details of an Emirati bank card, saying that a certain individual would make a cash deposit at an ATM in Dubai, after which the money should be transferred to him. We don’t know exactly who deposited the cash into the account. However, Eynalova cannot be excluded as a possible source of the funds. She had previously posted a social media review of the same bank branch where the money was deposited. On the eve of the trip, Kotau told friends that the costs of an important meeting in Türkiye would be covered by the hosts. [*]

What exactly connected Kotau and Eynalova remains unclear. We know that Kotau repeatedly tried to establish himself in business, although one of his partners claims that he ultimately lost all of his savings as a result. After a trip to Dubai in the summer of 2023, Kotau began telling acquaintances about his connections to influential figures in the UAE. He told one friend that he had been offered a position as an adviser to a prince. It was after that trip that we first identified contact between him and Eynalova. Although she speaks Russian, their correspondence was conducted in English. In one message, Eynalova informed Kotau that Azerbaijani magnate Anar Mammadov had taken an interest in his project.

During the same period, Kotau was discussing another potential venture with a Minsk-based IT entrepreneur. According to the businessman, he told Kotau about a group of Russians planning to channel gambling revenues into the UAE and Bahrain. Their correspondence continued at least through the end of 2024. It is also known that Kotau returned to Dubai in April 2025. After meeting with one acquaintance, he headed to another meeting but did not disclose whom he was going to see. It cannot be ruled out that the meeting was with one of the future passengers of the yacht Shells — the vessel on which he was later delivered into the custody of FSB officers.

One ship, two names, X owners

At the time of the operation, the yacht Shells was owned by the British company MGA Yachting Ltd. [*] Toygar Yedigöz, a Turkish citizen, was its beneficial owner until 2022. [*] At least in 2023, he was a member of the board of directors of Fix Defence Defense Industry Inc., [*] a Turkish company working in the military-industrial complex. It developed body armor and drones, much like the Belarusian company BTS Global.

We have found several more links between the vessel and a Turkish arms manufacturer. One of the captains of the yacht Shells listed Fix Defence as his employer on LinkedIn. The company and the yacht are both connected to the Heydarov couple. Emin was a member of the board of directors of Fix Defence. In 2022, his wife, Sabina, took over MGA Yachting. At the time of the operation, the yacht Shells was registered under this company. [*] Moreover, Emin Heydarov, an Azerbaijani, just like Qahira Eynalova, flew to Belarus several times. We managed to reach the businessman, but he refused to discuss the matter and showed no interest in Kotau’s disappearance. Sabina Heydarova ended the call immediately upon hearing our questions.

Six months after the events surrounding Anatol Kotau’s disappearance, the yacht was sold to a company registered in the Marshall Islands that does not disclose its beneficial owners. A source in the yacht brokerage circle told the BIC that the previous owner sold the vessel to a friend. We can make an educated guess as to who that friend was..

The vessel was renamed after the sale. The new name is YS Legacy. [*] In March 2026, the Belarusian company BTS Global filed an application to register  a trademark with the same name. [*] The Latin letters YS in the yacht’s name and in the registered Belarusian brand match Yury Serykh’s initials as written in his passport. The link to Serykh can also be found in corporate documents. For example, Legacy Properties Ltd., which transferred ownership of one of its assets to him in February 2019, was registered in the Marshall Islands at the same address as the new owners of the yacht YS Legacy (formerly Shells). [*]

The investigation hasn’t even started

During the investigation, we determined that four individuals were involved in Anatol Kotau’s disappearance in some way: Yury Puzikau of Belarus, Yuriy Golovanov and Petr Grib of Russia, and Qahira Eynalova of Jordan. They helped organize the trip, during which the Belarusian politician was seized by FSB agents, and participated in it. However, in their official responses to inquiries, the Russian and Belarusian penitentiary and law enforcement authorities maintain that he has not been detained and is not being held in any place of detention.

We also contacted the subjects of this investigation, along with other individuals and companies mentioned in this article, for comment. Qahira Eynalova said she did not understand our questions and warned that she would pursue legal action if we continued to bother her. Yuriy Golovanov saw the journalist’s message on Telegram but did not reply. As of publication, no other responses had been received.

Most of the individuals involved in this investigation are linked, in one way or another, to an arms trade  network controlled by Yury Serykh, a veteran of Belarus’s security service.

In September 2025, the Polish Prosecutor’s Office declined to open a criminal case over the deprivation of Kotau’s liberty. As far as we know, in the ten months since his disappearance, the Polish police and security services have taken no active investigative steps. They have not questioned any of his relatives or acquaintances. Investigators did not inspect his possessions or electronic devices at his home or workplace. The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office informed us that it is not conducting an investigation into Kotau’s disappearance. Yet there is a legal basis for doing so, lawyer Ales Michalevic told the BIC:

“Any issue arising from the fact that he is not a Polish citizen and disappeared in a third country is readily overcome by the fact that the crime related to his disappearance started in Poland, ... and that the offense is linked to torture. <...> We can reasonably assume that he was transported out of Türkiye under somewhat inhumane conditions,” said Ales Michalevic.

Anatol Kotau turns 46 on June 18, 2026, the day this investigation is published. People close to him and his friends still do not know whether he is alive and, if so, where he is.