Missing Belarus opposition figure photographed at Minsk gym

A screenshot of a Minsk trainer's Instagram story, allegedly showing Anzhalika Melnikava, was published on March 19 in the Telegram channel of blogger Balaganoff. The woman, who resembles the missing former speaker of the Coordination Council, was photographed at the Minsk fitness center Gym24 in the Vostok neighborhood, which opened in 2025.

In the photo, the woman's hair is cut to shoulder length, and a tattoo is visible on her arm. Melnikava has a large tattoo on her shoulder depicting a female ronin, which she got in Warsaw.

The photo was not AI-generated, according to checks using several different tools. Facial recognition services identified the woman as Anzhalika Melnikava, with a 71.6% similarity match to her known photos. Euroradio confirmed the identification using its own system, as did Uladzimir Zhyhar, a representative of the organization BELPOL.

Euroradio also checked the photos for signs of editing, such as Photoshop — none of the tools used detected any manipulation.

"Someone sent me these photos two days ago… Or did I just miss something? I didn't publish them — I still don't know if it's fake or real. I was waiting for someone from Belarus to post them first… but no one sent them to anyone 🤔 since there's nothing online 🤔 They say it's Minsk. Anzhalika Melnikava," wrote blogger Alexander "Balaganoff" Rykov in his post alongside the images.

The blogger told The Insider that the photo was sent to him by an anonymous user.

The Insider's colleagues contacted one of the club's trainers and asked to speak with Galina — the trainer who posted the photo allegedly showing Melnikava — but the person who answered apparently warned someone that the call was coming from a Czech number. A woman's voice could be heard in the background.

"She can't speak right now, unfortunately. Please call our administrator," the trainer said.

Euroradio journalists also called the club undercover to find out whether Anzhalika Melnikava was among its members, but the receptionist immediately replied that no such client was on their records.

The journalists also called Galina's number directly, which is listed on the fitness center's website — but a man named "Edik" answered. He said he was "in Africa with Galina saving children, so he had no idea about any Anzhalika." According to him, Galina was not a trainer but worked as a caregiver at a nursing home.

When asked whether he worked for the Belarusian KGB, the man replied: "Is that a factory or something?"

When the journalist asked to speak with Galina, the man then said "she's dead."

The story of Melnikava's disappearance

Melnikava's colleagues reported her missing in late March 2025. It later emerged that a month earlier she had flown to London and then on to Sri Lanka. It also came to light that before her disappearance, Melnikava had withdrawn approximately $150,000 from a foundation she managed — either voluntarily or under duress. Polish authorities opened a criminal investigation into her disappearance.

Journalists later discovered that she may have been traveling with a young male companion, Alexei Gordeev (also known as Lobeev), who turned out to be a KGB officer.

translated via ClaudeAI