«She was 'withdrawn' from Poland». Former Internal Security Agency officer — on Melnikova being found

— On Friday, photographs appeared showing Anzhelika Melnikova looking completely healthy in a gym in Minsk. Independent media also managed to contact her father, who claims she has been in Belarus for a long time. What might this indicate?

— That she returned home from exile. In fact, she did not disappear without a trace, and her family probably even knew where she was. Media information suggests that she may have been in Belarus for quite some time. Using a gym indicates that she feels quite free, does not hide, and, on the contrary, appears in public places.

(«Nasha Niva» concluded that the photos from the gym might be manipulated, their authenticity cannot be verified — Ed.)

This means that Lukashenka's regime does not treat her as an enemy. Because if all the years she was in Poland she had really acted against the regime, now she would not be going to gyms, but would be behind bars. Lukashenka's regime detains people for much less.

As for the question of whether she could have collaborated with Belarusian security services in Poland – I think so.

— Melnikova's father claims that his daughter calls him from an unlisted number, but he himself cannot call her. Does this mean she is hiding? Or, perhaps, she is still being held, and she does not decide when she can contact her father?

— This is one of the options, though I don't think that's the case. It would be necessary to clarify whether the photo was indeed taken in a gym accessible to the general public. It shows that Melnikova is well-groomed, with a hairstyle, in branded clothes. It's hard to assume she was photographed in a correctional facility gym.

— Belarusian journalists found out that it is the "Vostok" gym in Minsk, which has been operating since 2025. This means Melnikova could not have been there before her emigration to Poland in 2021.

— This confirms that she is free.

Regarding her father's statements — it must be remembered that as a family member, he may be protecting his daughter, may not be telling the truth, or may be saying what is demanded of him. I would be guided by this and not expect absolute truthfulness from him. Especially since media from Poland and other European Union countries have taken an interest in this case.

I think that Melnikova and her family are being used by Lukashenka's regime for propaganda purposes.

Павялічыць

— Pavel Latushka, head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, until recently the most important politician of the Belarusian opposition in Poland, said that one should be glad that Melnikova is alive. Do you think her abduction abroad and murder there was a realistic scenario? From the FBI investigation, we know that Russians ordered the abduction of the family of Chechen opposition leader Akhmed Zakayev.

— Melnikova is still not Zakayev or one of the most famous Russian opposition figures for such measures to be applied to her. An assassination attempt on her would be disadvantageous from a propaganda point of view as well.

If we stick to the hypothesis that she initially cooperated with Belarusian services, joined the Coordination Council at their command, and then took over as chair, then harming her, killing or abducting her was never part of the plan from the very beginning. Why kill her if she was carrying out the tasks for which she was sent to Poland?

I understand that representatives of Belarusian democratic forces found themselves in a disadvantageous position in this way. At first, they did not admit that there could be an employee of Lukashenka's services in their ranks. Hence Pavel Latushka's statement.

— What could indicate her cooperation with the KGB of Belarus? That she was an agent from the very beginning, or even an officer of Belarusian intelligence?

— I don't know how she behaved in contacts with other employees of the National Anti-Crisis Management. But the very fact that she was accepted into this administration, that she met all the criteria and rose so high there, may indicate that Belarusian intelligence prepared her very well for this.

The fact that she was "withdrawn" from Poland, and suddenly, unexpectedly, even with a hint of abduction, is a rather desperate step by the service, and thus a manifestation of a certain crisis in cooperation between the Belarusian special services and Melnikova. And now it suddenly turns out that she didn't disappear, but simply left.

There is a theory that she could no longer perform the tasks assigned to her by Belarusian intelligence. Perhaps there were personal circumstances involved. That's why the Belarusians "took her back," and she might even have received a reward for it. I doubt she was a full-time KGB officer. Rather, she was simply recruited for this.

It cannot be ruled out that there are more such people in the Belarusian democratic forces. It must be remembered that for the Belarusian special services, the priority is to develop the Belarusian diaspora in the West, including structures that act to overthrow the regime of Alexander Lukashenka. Their main intelligence goal is to penetrate these structures, study their tasks, methods, and scope of activity.

It is clear that Melnikova turned out to be one of the instruments in this process. We do not know what information and characteristics of which people she passed on. These are very delicate issues that have not been disclosed, so we can only scratch the surface of this problem.

— What information could such a high-ranking agent — a speaker of the exiled parliament, the third person in the hierarchy of democratic forces — have collected?

— Everything that was available to her: about areas of activity, people, contacts with institutions in Poland, about conspiratorial ties with individuals in Belarus who support the independence movement, opposition to Lukashenka. This is very valuable information for the Belarusian special services, as it allows them to persecute their opponents within the country.

We do not have information about this, because the deputies of the Coordination Council do not admit it, but a classic activity of intelligence is also the destruction of an organization from within, the introduction of chaos, conflict. This can be such a trifle as spreading rumors, confirming falsehoods, disinformation. But also supporting groups that are radicalizing or disagree with the political line. The spectrum of possibilities is very wide and depends only on the creativity of the intelligence.

— Do you think she could have recruited other agents within the Belarusian opposition?

— Theoretically, this is possible, because recruitment is not only a rigid signing of an obligation to cooperate (although Lukashenka's Belarus also practices this). It can also be a personal, friendly, romantic relationship. I do not think, however, that she was a typical recruiting agent, because that would attract attention to her. For this, one also needs to have appropriate personal qualities, as well as opportunities to bind the recruited person to the structure. Therefore, theoretically it is possible, but not every intelligence service is ready to entrust such a responsible task to agents "in the field".

It should be borne in mind that Anzhelika Melnikova had many tasks within the Belarusian democratic forces; she was very busy, so she might simply not have had time for such activities.

— Melnikova disappeared at the end of February 2025. It quickly became clear that she had previously met in Cuba and Sri Lanka with Belarusian athlete Aliaksei Hardzeyeu, who turned out to be KGB counter-intelligence officer Aliaksei Labeyeu. In conversations with colleagues, she called him her beloved, even fiancé, although he is married. Do you think it is possible that Melnikova secretly left Poland because she was "in love" with this officer? Or was she even recruited in bed?

— The question is whether it was a romance at all. It could have been a legend, thanks to which their contacts looked natural. And in reality, it could have been a person who trained her, was her contact, or the officer who was handling her. The spectrum of possibilities is wide, which does not exclude the possibility of some intimate relationship — they cannot be excluded, even as an "accident at work."

It was not necessarily a counterintelligence officer: personnel movements are possible within the KGB. This functionary could have had appropriate abilities, skills, or good communication with her, which allowed him to handle her as a source.

As for the trips to Cuba and Sri Lanka, it looks like professional maintenance of contact with an agent in third countries.

— I understand that Belarusian special services consider these countries safe for themselves. There is another such country: Belarusian journalist Inna Kardash, detained in Ukraine for espionage, met with her handler officer in Hungary.

— There are countries where Belarusians are paid more attention — yes, certainly in Poland, Ukraine, in the Baltic states. We are more attentive to them. But there are countries where they are not paid attention at all.

Sri Lankan counterintelligence has every right not to pay attention to a couple of young people sunbathing on the beach and drinking cocktails, not to see foreign intelligence activity in their behavior. For such meetings to be noticed, they would have had to have at least a cyclical nature and somehow de-conspire the intelligence "tools", attracting the attention of local counterintelligence services — regardless of whether they took place in Sri Lanka or Budapest.

Павялічыць

— Was her appearance in photos on the day of John Cole's visit to Minsk accidental? Belarusian journalists suggest that this is a signal of a major interview with her soon appearing in pro-government media. What purpose could it serve, what could she reveal?

— Similar to the case with the interview with the traitor judge Tomasz Szmydt, who is used to tell stories about the "rottenness" of the Polish judicial system and politics.

Melnikova could fulfill many useful roles for Lukashenka's regime. She could talk about how deeply the Belarusian opposition in Poland has degraded, that it only pulls money from the Polish government but does not use it for the benefit of the Belarusian cause. Propaganda could use her to strengthen its thesis that the opposition in Poland is not a real "government in exile."

— Melnikova is a Polish citizen. What steps can and should Poland now take regarding her? Latushka claims that Warsaw could obtain proof from Minsk that Melnikova is indeed there.

— Why? The question is whether this is even the most important task facing the Polish prosecutor's office and special services. I believe that actions regarding her will rather die down than flare up. Especially considering that nothing indicates that she is on the territory of Belarus against her will. In addition, she has Belarusian documents and family in Belarus.

For her case to be considered espionage, it must be an activity detrimental to Poland and its citizens, as well as the interests of the European Union and NATO. And for now, we have no such information. This concerns the sphere of Belarusian democratic forces in Poland. If there were reasons to believe that she acted to the detriment of Poland, the EU and NATO, then her case should have been handled by the Internal Security Agency.

— As a Polish citizen spying against Poland, could she be recognized as a traitor?

— If she acted to the detriment of Poland, then yes. But that must first be proven.

Hanna Grabowska-Siwiec is a former counter-intelligence officer of the Internal Security Agency (ABW), a lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations of the University of Białystok, and the author of publications, books, and trainings dedicated to counter-intelligence.

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