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A dissident Belarusian sports official who went missing in Turkey is believed to have traveled to Sochi in Russia, DW can reveal.

Anatol Kotau, the former secretary general of the Belarusian Olympic Committee, was last heard from shortly after arriving in Istanbul, Turkey‘s largest city, on August 21.

While Kotau’s wife and colleagues fear he was abducted, reports in the Turkish media claimed that Kotau flew to Trabzon, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, on the same day he landed in Istanbul from Warsaw.

DW has now discovered that Kotau left Turkey for Sochi, the southwestern Russian port city, on a private yacht that was waiting for him when he arrived in Trabzon.

A Turkish police source in Trabzon said there were “no problems” with Kotau and the people accompanying him, and that “nothing seemed wrong” with his travel documents.

Previously, Turkish police told DW they had no record of Kotau’s disappearance in their systems, despite his wife filing a missing persons report electronically on August 25. The police source said there would be no reason for them to investigate once Kotau had left the country.

No signs of ‘depression or crisis’

Kotau is one of the founding members of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), which was created in 2020 to support Belarusian athletes who oppose the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. 

His missing persons report, which has been seen by DW, details phone messages between him and his wife in Poland on the day of his disappearance on August 21.

At 12.26 p.m. Polish time, Kotau writes that he has landed at Istanbul Airport. His wife then asks him where he is staying. Just under two hours later, he replies: “I’ll send it when I know.”

His last contact is said to be at 9.28 p.m. Polish time; a hotel address was never sent.

BSSF Director Alexander Opeikin told DW that Kotau’s behavior had been “usual” before his trip to Istanbul, which was due to last two to three days. “There were no signals about any depression or any crisis in his life,” Opeikin said.

Kotau active in Belarusian opposition circles

As part of their work, Kotau and the BSSF also successfully pushed for Belarus to be stripped of hosting international sports competitions, most notably the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Hockey is Lukashenko’s favorite sport.

The 45-year-old Kotau’s political activism saw him sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia in July 2024, on charges including “conspiracy to seize power” and “promoting extremist activities.”

“Anatol was responsible for strong actions against Lukashenko’s regime,” Pavel Latushka, a prominent Belarusian opposition politician, told DW. “He was a high-level official, [so] in Lukashenko’s eyes he must look like a traitor.

“The regime is waging an open, systemic, large-scale war without any restrictions against democratic institutions and democratic activists abroad. Lukashenko’s hands are already everywhere. It doesn’t matter where the Belarusians are. He persecutes them even abroad.”

BSSF: Kotau also wanted by Russia

In posts on social media, the BSSF said that Kotau had traveled to Istanbul “on professional matters,” understood to be unrelated to the BSSF and his day job with a Polish events agency, although he was also known to be involved with other Belarusian opposition groups.

Opeikin said he didn’t know whom Kotau was intending to meet in Turkey.

“I’m really concerned,” Opeikin said. “We are very close on many projects. He’s a great defender of athletes’ rights and a real political figure on the Belarusian political stage.”

According to the BSSF, Kotau is on wanted lists in both Belarus and Russia, which has relied on Lukashenko’s support for its war in Ukraine. The organization wrote that this raised “serious concerns about his safety and potential political persecution.”

However, the latest developments also raise the possibility that Kotau may have left Turkey voluntarily or under some kind of coercion. Last month, the Belarusian secret service, the KGB, made several attempts to recruit seven opposition figures using money or blackmail, Latuskha said.

Like many Belarusian exiles, Kotau was living with his wife and young son in the Polish capital, Warsaw, where he has refugee status.

The Polish consulate in Istanbul referred a query from DW to the Polish foreign ministry, which said that it was aware of the matter, but that “unfortunately, no additional information can be provided to the media.”

‘Day of reckoning will come’

The risks to exiled Belarusian dissidents and activists are spelled out in a recent KGB propaganda video.

It shows a man being led down the steps of an airplane, where he is handed over to two masked KGB agents. A voiceover warns that this should serve as an example to others — the man, Pavel Belyutin, is accused of trying to overthrow the government — before a KGB official appears, saying: “The day of reckoning will come.”

Comparing a still image from the video with other photos, independent Belarusian media believe Belyutin was snatched at Istanbul Airport, which DW wasn’t able to verify. However, it may give a clue to Kotau’s fate.

“It’s really dangerous for political activists who go to these countries,” Opeikin said. “I think he knew this risk, but he had already been to Turkey many times. This time something happened, and we don’t know what.”

DW has reached out to the Belarusian authorities for comment on the case.

Halil Taskin in Istanbul contributed to this report. 

Edited by: Chuck Penfold