The Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office refused to open a criminal case regarding the disappearance of Anatol Kotau. The decision was made on July 31, 2026. The agency reviewed the application submitted to the prosecutor’s office following the BIC’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Belarusian opposition figure.
This news was prepared in cooperation with the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita.
Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office Press Secretary Piotr A. Skiba explained to Rzeczpospolita that the Polish authorities have no jurisdiction in this case:
“The individual referred to in the report is not a Polish citizen, the actions against them did not take place in the territory of the Republic of Poland, and there are no grounds to assert that Polish citizens may have been involved in the possible commission of the crime.”
The spokesperson stated that relatives have the option to appeal the refusal. However, according to information available to the BIC, Kotau’s wife has not yet received a decision from the prosecutor’s office regarding this case. The office is not disclosing additional information until the decision takes effect.
Unofficial version
The Polish edition of Rzeczpospolita reports, citing its sources, that the Turkish authorities have provided materials to Polish investigators as part of mutual legal assistance. Specifically, they provided border control data confirming Kotau’s arrival in Istanbul. According to Rzeczpospolita, the oppositionist presented a Belarusian passport at the Turkish border despite having a Polish travel document issued under the Geneva Convention to refugees. According to a representative of a Polish public agency with whom Rzeczpospolita spoke, this indicates Kotau’s desire to remain anonymous and blend in with other tourists. However, Kotau may have done this to avoid bureaucratic difficulties. You can enter Turkey without a visa with a Belarusian passport, but not with a Geneva travel document.
According to a source close to the investigation, as described by Rzeczpospolita, the leading theory about his disappearance is that it was the result of agent activity. According to the source, Kotau collaborated with Belarusian intelligence to gain access to Pavel Latushka. The source admits that Kotau may be removed from the operation later on to prevent exposure. This claim should be viewed critically since the Polish Prosecutor’s Office did not conduct a thorough investigation. The Belarusian Investigation Center’s unpublished data also contradicts this version. It seems likely that Kotau’s disappearance was not a choice he made on his own. Pavel Latushka agrees with this assessment.
“For all these years, he has tried to establish contact with the elite in Minsk in an attempt to solve the Belarusian problem through them. <...> Several times, thanks to him, I spoke with former prime ministers of Belarus. I think he delved into the case too deeply and fell into the trap of the special services,” the politician told Rzeczpospolita.
How Kotau disappeared
On August 21, 2025, Anatol Kotau traveled from Warsaw, where he was residing with his family at the time, to Trabzon, Türkiye. In the evening, he boarded the Shells yacht in the company of Jordanian citizen Qahira Eynalova. The crew and two Russian citizens, Yuriy Golovanov and Petr Grib, were on board. At the Russians’ request, the captain then steered the yacht toward the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia. On August 22, a Russian border patrol ship approached the yacht. FSB officers boarded the yacht and removed Kotau. The BIC discovered that the yacht and the people who organized this trip are connected to a group of former Belarusian security officers and a network of companies involved in the arms trade.
This story has everything: arms dealers and security services, love and money, a luxury yacht and a route through several countries.
