Belarusian oppositionists accuse missing colleague of theft

The Belarusian opposition continues to investigate the circumstances of the disappearance of Speaker of the Coordinating Council of the Opposition Angelika Melnikova. It was confirmed that she had withdrawn more than 150 thousand dollars from the general account for personal needs. An application has been submitted to the Polish law enforcement agencies. A group of investigators traced her route, which looks very strange. But there is still no clarity about her whereabouts. Experts fear that at some point the former speaker will be presented to the public by the Belarusian authorities.

The Coordinating Council (CC) of the opposition, which supporters initially viewed as the “proto-parliament” of the new Belarus, should decide on the figure of its speaker in the near future. The former head of this body, Angelika Melnikova, according to the statute of the Constitutional Court, lost her status on May 13, because by that time she had not performed her duties for exactly three months.

The disappearance of Melnikova, who has not been seen by any of her colleagues since mid-February, increasingly resembles the plot of a detective thriller. On Monday, members of the Cyber Partisans group (their information resources are recognized as extremist formations in Belarus) said that Melnikova literally robbed them, withdrawing significant amounts from the accounts of the fund she controlled and where the funds addressed to the group came from.

The group’s statement reads: “The first case of spending the group’s funds on Melnikova’s personal needs was recorded on January 22, 2025 – payment for Booking services from a card that Melnikova had. During February 2025, Melnikova deposited funds not belonging to her in amounts up to 2.5 thousand dollars to her personal account every few days, including using an express transfer service to speed up transactions.”

But, as it turned out, Melnikova had also robbed the Coordinating Council she headed. Cyber Partisans reports: “The transfer of the grant for the Coordination Council – about 107 thousand dollars – was credited to the fund’s account on March 13. The receipt of this amount was not coordinated with representatives of Cyber Partisans, and the group was not even informed of the very fact of such use of the fund’s account. During March, Melnikova transferred to her personal account in several transactions the entire transferred grant amount for the Coordinating Council, as well as all remaining funds in the account … The largest transfers were made on March 5 and 18. In total, Melnikova brought out more than 150 thousand dollars. The last withdrawal operation is dated March 24, 2025.”

The authors of the statement admit that they “do not know the motives for which Melnikova decided to embezzle other people’s funds and disappear after many months of competent work with a good reputation.” They are considering both blackmail and her personal voluntary decision. At the same time, it is reported that an application has been submitted to the Polish law enforcement agencies on the theft.

Journalists from one of the Polish media outlets, in turn, tried to establish the route of Melnikova’s movements after she left Warsaw, where she had been living and working in recent years. According to a journalistic investigation, on February 26, she and her two daughters flew to London. And on February 28, they all ended up in Sri Lanka, where a room was booked in one of the resort hotels in her name.

But even on this beautiful island, the mysterious fugitive did not stay long. The authors of the investigation claim that on March 7, all three flew to Dubai. The further route has not yet been traced.

However, a month after that date, representatives of one of the opposition Internet resources managed to talk with Melnikova’s ex-husband, who had left Warsaw in March. But his route was straight – he ended up in Belarus. And the most interesting thing is that in a conversation with journalists that took place on April 7, he stated that both daughters were with him. At the same time, he claimed that he did not know the whereabouts of his ex-wife.

Political scientist Pavel Usov analyzed the situation in his Telegram channel.

The expert notes: “So far there are three working versions: She was a KGB agent from the very beginning; she was recruited as a result of moral pressure and blackmail in the course of her activities; it was a gamble, and she just abandoned everyone. This could have been facilitated by some personal reasons, intrigues, shadowy relations between different personalities in the opposition.

From a pragmatic, image-based point of view, the latter option is the most derogatory and discrediting for the opposition.”

Nevertheless, he admits: “The authorities will make a show out of this sooner or later (they are waiting for the appropriate moment, for example, the second round of elections in Poland).”

The expert believes that Melnikova should never have been “put on the financial flows” of the opposition, much less a hacker group, since it was no secret to anyone that both her ex-husband and children periodically visit Belarus.

The political scientist draws very disappointing conclusions from the situation for the opposition. He notes: “After such a scandal, the best thing the Constitutional Court can do is to disband and not disgrace the entire opposition idea. Obviously, an investigation by a third party (Poland) is needed in the case of possible large-scale corruption (but the Polish authorities already knew this).” And he asks a reasonable question: “As a result of the obvious abuses, Melnikova will not become a victim, but a suspect?”