New details on Anatol Kotau's disappearance. The yacht he was on changed course to Abkhazia, where he was taken away by FSB officers. But was it an abduction or a staged disappearance?

Anatol Kotau. Photo: Mira Lesialishchka / Belsat

Anatol Kotau is a representative of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, the Presidential Administration, the Embassy in Poland, the National Olympic Committee, the Directorate of the European Games — 2019, and the Directorate of Affairs of Lukashenka.

In August 2020, in protest, he resigned from his position as deputy head of the state bodies financing department of the main financial department of the Directorate of Affairs of Lukashenka. For the past few years, he has been in forced emigration, engaged in public activities, and was associated with several political and media projects, including the "Nick and Mike" Telegram channel. In 2024, a Belarusian court заочно (in absentia) sentenced him to 12 years in a penal colony.

Anatol Kotau disappeared in August 2025. It is known that he took leave from his job at the Terra Group event agency and on August 21, went to Istanbul. According to the Turkish prosecutor's office, Kotau's passport was scanned at 18:35:54 upon his departure from Turkey on August 21 via Trabzon port.

For almost a year, journalists from the BIC, Deutsche Welle, and OCCRP, together with the "Workers' Movement" and "Cyberpartisans" initiatives, tried to find out what happened to the former official after his trip to Turkey. As a result, they concluded that his disappearance was the result of a pre-planned operation involving several people, and Kotau himself was likely handed over to Russian FSB officers.

A few weeks before his disappearance, Kotau began telling acquaintances about some important meeting in Turkey. According to friends and relatives, he seemed interested and even inspired by this prospect. He told some that events might soon occur, after which many Belarusians would have the opportunity to return home. The meeting was postponed several times. The last time he informed his wife about another date change was on August 11, 2025 — ten days before his departure.

The investigation shows that preparations for this trip began in advance. For the operation, organizers rented the yacht Shells — a 30-meter motor vessel with four cabins. However, the crew was selected in a very unusual way. The captain and sailors were Turks, the stewardess was a Dutch citizen, and the main condition for hiring was that they did not speak Russian. This seemed strange, as all the yacht passengers were Russian-speaking.

HR operative, security officer and karateka

The trip's organizers were represented by two Russians. The first is 50-year-old Russian Yuri Golovanov, an employee of the St. Petersburg company "Baltiyskaya Zvezda," which organizes VIP events and rents expensive transport.

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Yuri Golovanov. Photo: investigatebel.org

Journalists draw attention to his contacts with a person associated with PMC "Wagner," as well as his possible involvement in an attempted coup d'état in Kyrgyzstan in 2023. At the time of the operation, he worked for a company that organizes transport and security support for events involving high-ranking officials. The authors of the investigation did not find direct evidence of his service in special forces.

The second is 60-year-old Pyotr Grib. As journalists found out, he previously commanded a military unit of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, cooperated with various security agencies, and was associated with veteran organizations of Russian special services.

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Pyotr Grib. Photo: investigatebel.org

Golovanov and Grib arrived in Istanbul almost a week before the trip, which was scheduled for August 11. However, shortly before departure, during a trial sea excursion, a technical malfunction was discovered on the yacht, so the trip had to be postponed for ten days.

The third person in the group was 40-year-old Belarusian Yuri Puzikau — a Kyokushinkai karate coach and judge. The investigation showed that he might have known Anatol Kotau long before the events on the yacht. Puzikau worked in the sports association "Adradzhenne" (Revival), which at various times was headed by former KGB and Operational and Analytical Center employees.

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Yuri Puzikau. Photo: investigatebel.org

These same people were connected to the company "BTS Global," which, with the support of the State Military-Industrial Committee, is engaged in the production and sale of drones. The authors of the investigation name former KGB officer Yuri Serykh as a key figure in this network. He headed "Adradzhenne" and today remains the owner of "BTS Global."

Kotau personally knew Serykh. They may have met at the National Olympic Committee, where both worked at the same time. Serykh was even supposed to be a guest at Kotau's wedding, and their joint photos are preserved on social networks.

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In the photo: Yuri Serykh and Anatol Kotau in red hats. Photo: "Adradzhenne" group on vk.com social network

Journalists also discovered that a close interweaving of employees existed between "Adradzhenne," "BTS Global," and their associated company, Tres International. Yuri Puzikau, his wife, and other people from Serykh's circle worked in these structures at various times.

In the social networks of "Adradzhenne," journalists found photographs of Kotau: in one of them, he poses with Puzikau's wife, who later became an employee of this association. Puzikau himself also appeared in photographs published by "Adradzhenne." However, journalists did not find joint photos of the two men, so they cannot confirm the fact of their acquaintance.

A woman was also involved

The fourth participant was 49-year-old Kahira Eynalava, a citizen of Jordan and a native of Azerbaijan. Her role is especially important, as she had personally known Kotau long before these events. Eynalava told journalists that she had a romantic relationship with Kotau. The investigators obtained their correspondence and a joint photograph from as early as 2023.

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Anatol Kotau and Kahira Eynalava. Photo: BIC source / investigatebel.org

According to Eynalava, Kotau borrowed five thousand euros from her. Journalists could not confirm this debt but found that shortly before his trip to Turkey, the man was indeed looking for a way to receive money from the United Arab Emirates.

Approximately a week before his departure, he asked an acquaintance businessman for the details of an Emirati bank card, to which someone was supposed to deposit cash in Dubai. Who exactly transferred the money is unknown, but the authors of the investigation do not rule out that it could have been Eynalava.

On the eve of the trip, Kotau also told friends that the host would cover all expenses for the important meeting in Turkey.

What exactly connected Kotau and Eynalava, journalists could not find out. It is known that they met no later than 2023 after one of Kotau's trips to Dubai. At that time, he often told acquaintances about new contacts in the UAE and possible business projects. According to one friend, Kotau even claimed that he was offered to become an advisor to one of the princes. In correspondence, Eynalava told him that his project had allegedly interested Azerbaijani businessman Anar Mammadov.

During the same period, Kotau discussed other business ideas related to the Persian Gulf countries with partners. In April 2025, he visited Dubai again and held several meetings there, some of which he did not even tell his close ones about. The authors of the investigation do not rule out that it was then that he could have met someone from the people who later ended up with him on the Shells yacht.

The Operation

On the morning of August 21, 2025, Kotau left Warsaw for the airport. According to relatives, he seemed agitated and nervous. He told his wife he was going for work, and at work, he said he was going for personal matters. He took only a small suitcase, a phone, and a laptop with him. By evening, via Istanbul, he reached Turkish Trabzon and boarded the yacht Shells with Kahira Eynalava.

At that moment, Golovanov and Grib were already on the yacht. Puzikau was also there, but after Kotau's arrival, he went ashore and did not appear on the vessel again.

Officially, the captain informed port authorities that the yacht was heading to Russian Sochi. However, as journalists found out, the real route was different. The vessel was heading to Sukhumi — the capital of self-proclaimed Abkhazia.

The trip to Abkhazia seemed risky for Kotau. At that time, he was already on an international wanted list, so he could be detained not only in Russia but also in Abkhazia, where local security agencies closely cooperate with Russian ones. Journalists could not find out whether Kotau knew about the true route of the journey and whether he consciously agreed to it.

Kahira Eynalava claims that initially, the group was going to Georgia and even planned to visit a casino. However, after relaxing and drinking alcohol, their plans allegedly changed. According to her, she was not interested in the conversations between the other passengers and did not know what decisions they made. As a result, the yacht headed for Russia.

According to Eynalava's version, Kotau left the yacht with the other passengers, after which she never saw him again and heard nothing about his fate.

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Map: Yana Mitskevich / Belarusian Investigative Center

However, other sources describe the events of the morning of August 22 differently. According to them, initially the yacht approached the coast near Sukhumi, but then the Russians ordered a change of route and to head to the port of Ochamchira. This city is also in Abkhazia, but south of Sukhumi. A base point for the Russian FSB border service is located there.

While Kotau was sleeping in the cabin, the captain contacted the port to get permission to dock. In response, he was told to wait at sea and not approach fishermen until a transfer boat arrived. However, instead of the boat, a Russian coast guard vessel approached the yacht. As noted in the investigation, satellite images show that around this time (12:30 Georgian time), a patrol vessel left the Russian base, which a few minutes later headed towards the Shells yacht.

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Source: Planet Labs

According to journalists, the coast guard was called by the Russian passengers of the yacht themselves. They claimed that during the night, Anatol Kotau allegedly got drunk, attacked them, and beat them.

According to sources, Russian FSB border guards boarded the vessel, broke into Kotau's cabin, led him out, ordered the captain to remove the Belarusian from the passenger list, and transferred him to their ship. After that, the FSB vessel sailed away.

The remaining passengers stayed on the yacht. The Russians ordered the captain to go to Sukhumi, where they disembarked themselves, and then headed to Russia. Eynalava then returned to Trabzon. The yacht crew was dismissed after the trip was completed.

Journalists note that they do not know whether Kotau was aware of where the yacht was heading in the final hours of the voyage. According to Eynalava's version, after the feast with the Russian passengers, he fell asleep. Other sources claim that he was feeling unwell and was vomiting.

At the same time, all of Kotau's acquaintances interviewed by journalists claimed that he was not prone to physical aggression either when sober or after consuming alcohol. None of them could recall instances where he behaved in such a way.

The authors of the investigation emphasize that all described circumstances were verified through several independent sources, and documents and recordings of conversations with informants are at the disposal of the editorial office.

What about the yacht?

At the time of the operation, the yacht Shells, which delivered Kotau to the Abkhazian coast, belonged to the British company MGA Yachting LTD. Until 2022, the ultimate owner of the yacht was Turkish businessman Toygar Yedygyz, associated with the company Fix Defence. It manufactures bulletproof vests and drones for the military sphere — just like the Belarusian "BTS Global," to which the investigation already led through a circle of former KGB and Operational and Analytical Center employees.

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Yacht Shells. Photo: Superyacht times

Investigators discovered other connections between the yacht and this company. One of the Shells' captains referred to Fix Defence as his workplace. Additionally, husband and wife Heydarovs were connected to both structures: Emin Heydarov (Azerbaijani, like Kahira Eynalava) was part of Fix Defence's management, and his wife Sabina became the owner of MGA Yachting in 2022, the company under which the yacht was registered during the operation. According to the authors, Heydarov flew to Belarus multiple times.

Six months after Kotau's disappearance, the vessel was sold to a company from the Marshall Islands, which does not disclose its true owners. After the sale, the yacht received a new name — YS Legacy.

Journalists noted that in March 2026, the Belarusian company "BTS Global" applied for the registration of a trademark with the same name. They also point out that the letters YS match the initials of "BTS Global" owner Yuri Serykh. In addition, they found another coincidence: the new owners of the yacht were registered in the Marshall Islands at the same address as a company that previously transferred one of its assets to Yuri Serykh.

According to the authors, they requested comments from the participants of this story and other individuals mentioned in the investigation. Kahira Eynalava stated that she did not understand the questions and threatened legal consequences in case of further inquiries. Yuri Golovanov read the journalist's message on Telegram but did not respond. Other individuals named in the investigation also did not react to the requests by the time of publication.

Separately, investigators draw attention to the reaction of the Polish authorities to Kotau's disappearance. In September 2025, the Polish prosecutor's office refused to open a criminal case regarding his deprivation of liberty. According to journalists, for ten months after his disappearance, the police and special services did not conduct active investigative actions: they did not question Kotau's relatives and acquaintances, nor did they inspect his belongings and electronic devices. In response to journalists' inquiries, the National Prosecutor's Office of Poland stated that it was not investigating his disappearance.

As of the publication of the investigation, June 18, 2026, Anatol Kotau's fate remains unknown.

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