In 2020, Anatoly Kotov resigned from the presidential administration in Belarus, saying he condemned violence against participants in protests against Alexander Lukashenko. After that, he moved to Poland and began cooperation with Belarusian opposition structures. He was associated with the popular Telegram channel “Nick and Mike”, where inside stories about Lukashenko were published. In August 2025, Kotov went to Türkiye, took a yacht to the Black Sea and disappeared without a trace. Neither Türkiye nor Poland investigated his disappearance. Journalists “Belarusian Investigative Center”, OCCRP and German wave They discover that the Russian Federal Security Service is involved in Kotov’s disappearance. Medusa retells this investigation.
Who is Anatoly Kotov?
This is a former Belarusian official, diplomat and sports employee. He worked at the Belarusian Embassy in Poland and the Office of the President of Belarus. In 2020, at the height of the protests against Alexander Lukashenko, Kotov left government service. He explained his decision as follows: “I do not understand how in the 21st century it was possible for a completely European country to go to the extent of killing unarmed citizens, mass beatings and torture, without even trying to apologize later. For me, this is out of bounds.”
After his dismissal, Kotov settled in Poland. He cooperated with the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund and other opposition structures, tried to do business and sophisticated Anonymous telegram channels. The most famous of them was “Nick and Mike”. At its peak, it had over 100,000 subscribers. This channel mocked Lukashenko and published internal stories about him. In 2022, Deputy Director of the Belarusian News Agency BELTA (the counterpart of the Russian TASS Agency) condemned Five years on charges of leaking information to Nick and Mike.
familiar Distinguished Kotov is an ambitious person, but he did not enter the leadership of the Belarusian opposition and has not been a noticeable figure in recent years. However, he was still of interest to the Belarusian regime, says human rights activist and former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich: “People like me are simply enemies of the regime, and people like him are traitors, which is much more dangerous.” In 2024, Kotov was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison. He was placed on the most wanted lists in Belarus and Russia.
How did Kotov disappear?
On August 21, 2025, Anatoly Kotov flew from Poland to Türkiye, boarded a yacht in the Turkish city of Trabzon, and was never seen by his friends and family again.
Investigative journalists found that the crew of the yacht – a 30-metre-long, four-cabin motor ship – did not speak Russian, were hired for one trip and were fired immediately afterwards. The ship’s passengers, besides Kotov himself, were four other people:
- Belarus Yuri BuzikovKarate coach. He worked in the Belarusian sports club “Vozrozhdenie” known to Kotov.
- Russian Peter Grape. A former security officer originally from Belarus, head of the security service at the Sochi Ice Arena and assistant to a local deputy.
- Russian Yuri Golovanov. In 2015-2016, he transferred money to a colleague of a man who worked as a driver for the Belarusian National Olympic Committee under Kotov.
- Russian-speaking Azerbaijani Kakhira Inalova. She and Kotov have known each other since at least 2023. Ainalova stated that they were having an affair. In correspondence they also discussed Kotov’s business projects.
Buzikov got off the yacht before Kotov got on it. That is, when “Shills” sailed from Trabzon, Greb, Golovanov and Inalova remained on board, in addition to Kotov.
Schles’s destination was the port of Sochi, but the yacht went to partially recognized Abkhazia. The Belarusian Investigative Center writes that on August 22, Greb and Golovanov instructed the crew to go to the Abkhaz city of Ochamchira, where the base of the Russian border service of the FSB is located. There, a Coast Guard ship with FSB border guards approached the yacht. They took Kotov and ordered the yacht’s captain to remove him from the passenger list.
All other passengers remained on board the yacht. Greb and Golovanov told the crew to go to Sukhumi, where they went ashore and then headed to Russia. Inalova only returned to Trabzon.
There are many questions in this story
- It is not known why Kotov arrived in Türkiye and boarded the yacht. At home he said it was a business trip, but at work he said it was a personal trip.
- It is not known which of the yacht’s passengers he knew. Of course, we can only talk about meeting Ainalova.
- It is not known whether Kotov knew where the yacht was headed. According to Inalova, he was drunk.
- It is not known what happened to Kotov now. Law enforcement agencies in Russia and Belarus claim that he has not been detained.
- Finally, it is not known whether this was a real kidnapping or a planned kidnapping.
Inalova claims that the yacht’s passengers planned to go to Georgia to play in a casino, but then “got drunk and changed clothes.” [планы] They said: No, we will go there. According to her, Kotov was drinking with the Russians, after which he fell asleep. According to other accounts, he was vomiting.
The Belarusian Investigation Center indicates that Golovanov and Greb summoned the Coast Guard to the yacht under the pretext that Kotov was drunk and attacked and beat them. At the same time, Kotov’s acquaintances insist that he was not prone to physical violence, whether sober or drunk.
The yacht was probably bought by a friend of Kotov
Six months after Kotov’s disappearance, the Shells yacht was sold to a company registered in the Marshall Islands, which does not disclose its beneficiaries. A source from the yacht brokerage department said that the previous owner sold the ship to his friend. After the sale, the yacht was renamed YS Legacy.
The letters YS in the name match the initials in Yuri Serekh’s passport. This is a former employee of the Belarusian KGB, who once worked with Kotov in the National Olympic Committee of Belarus, and then posed with him at the events of the Vozrozhdenie Sports Club. In addition, Kotov invited Grays to his wedding as a friend.
Serykh is the owner of the Belarusian company BTS Global. It is engaged in the production of drones. Previously, Yuri Buzikov, a yachtsman who went ashore in Trabzon before Kotov’s arrival, worked there. In March 2026, BTS Global applied to register the YS Legacy trademark, coinciding with the yacht’s new name.
Kotov’s disappearance was not investigated
The Turkish authorities did not respond to journalists’ questions about the investigation. Polish authorities said they were not pursuing him because his disappearance occurred in another country. Human rights activist Ales Mikhalevich disagrees with this; It is believed that the crime that ended with Kotov’s disappearance began in Poland.
“Not a single prosecutor, not a single government employee wants additional work,” Mikhalevich said. “If there had been a political will to open a criminal case into the disappearance of Anatoly Kotov, it could have been done quite easily.”
Kotov’s friend, Ruslan Khazin, is certain he is alive: “If they had wanted to eliminate him, it would have been much easier here, on the territory of Warsaw, by faking it as an accident. The circumstances of his disappearance…suggest that the forces in which he fell needed him alive.”