US urged to probe case of missing Belarusian after report of Russian involvement

LONDON, June 19 - Supporters of a Belarusian opposition figure who disappeared last year have appealed to the U.S., Poland, the EU and the U.N. to investigate his case following a report he was captured by Russian authorities.

Anatol Kotau, 46, vanished last August after travelling to Turkey from his home in Poland. Within hours of arriving, he stopped responding to messages from his wife.

According to a journalistic investigation published this week by Deutsche Welle and conducted jointly with the Belarusian Investigative Center and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Kotau boarded a yacht from Turkey's Trabzon with two Russian men, a woman from Azerbaijan and four crew members.

The yacht was reportedly intercepted in the Black Sea by the Russian coast guard and Kotau was removed from the vessel.

It remains unclear why he travelled to Turkey and why, as a Belarusian dissident, he would have knowingly boarded a boat heading towards Russia.

The former sports administrator has been sentenced in absentia to 12 years in Belarus, a close ally of Russia, on charges of extremist activity and conspiracy to seize power, which he denied.

Reuters has requested comment from the Russian embassy in London about Moscow's alleged involvement.

Dmitry Bolkunets, an exiled activist who leads a group called the Belarus Democratic Forum, asked U.S. National Security Adviser Andy Baker in a letter, seen by Reuters, to provide assistance in establishing the whereabouts of Kotau.

"The facts presented indicate that this was not a random event, but the result of a meticulously planned special operation," Bolkunets wrote, describing it as an abduction by Russia's FSB security service.

Bolkunets also wrote to President Donald Trump's envoy John Coale, who has been leading negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko over political prisoners. Coale responded that he would raise the matter with Minsk.

Similar appeals went to Poland's prime minister and president, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Kotau's wife Anastasia told Reuters she hoped the appeals would prompt further investigation by the U.S. and Poland, where Kotau had refugee status. REUTERS