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The Belarusian State Border Committee reported that Belarusian opponents, who were kidnapped the day before, Maria Kolesnikova, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov crossed the Belarusian border with Ukraine this morning. Pro-government Belarusian media wrote that Kolesnikova was detained at the border.
Belarusian opponent Maria Kolesnikova and other members of the opposition coordinating committee Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov passed border control at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border this morning. Anton Bychkovsky, official representative of the Belarusian State Border Committee, told Radio Svaboda in a comment.
According to him, around five in the afternoon they reached the Aleksandrovka border crossing. There were three of them in a car.
When asked whether opponents left Belarusian territory under pressure, Bychkovsky responded with smog.
The “Belarus 1” television channel on its Telegram channel reported today that Rodnenkov and Kravtsov “fled abroad” that night.
“Rodnenkov and Kravtsov managed to escape, Kolesnikova did not. She was detained right on the border and they are looking for the fugitives together with the Ukrainians,” the television channel said.
The Russian agency “Interfax”, citing sources surrounded by opponents, writes that the three were probably taken to the border from the pre-trial detention center by the Belarusian special services, but Kolesnikova was arrested while trying to cross the border.
Interlocutors from the agency affirm that the three were not going to leave the country.
The TUT.BY edition writes that the State Border Committee could not confirm this information. There they repeated that the three had passed border control.
On the morning of September 7, a Belarusian named Anastasia reported that she had witnessed Kolesnikova’s arrest near the National Museum of Art in Minsk. Not far from the museum, she saw a dark minibus parked with the sign “Communication”. Soon, the woman heard the sound of a phone hitting the asphalt and a rattle. When she turned around, she saw people in civilian clothes and masks pushing Kolesnikova into a minibus.
The Minsk police stated that they did not arrest Kolesnikova this morning.
Belarusian opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called Kolesnikova’s kidnapping and the disappearance of two more members of the opposition coordination council, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, a terror and an attempt to disrupt the work of the coordination council.
Mass protests have been going on in Belarus since August 9. The protesters believe that the results of the presidential elections were falsified. According to official data, current President Alexander Lukashenko won with 80.1% of the voters. Tikhanovskaya came in second with 10.1% of the vote. At the same time, alternative exit polls showed the opposite picture: Tikhanovskaya’s confident victory.
The Belarusian security forces violently dispersed the demonstrations, in particular with the use of stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons. During the protests, about 8,000 protesters were detained, hundreds were injured and wounded. According to official figures, four protesters died.
On September 6, massive protest actions were carried out in Belarus; some 100,000 people attended the protest in Minsk. Law enforcement officers arrested more than 600 protesters, 363 were sent to jail.
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