Accessibility links

Breaking News

Belarusian Officials Investigate Video Of Women Allegedly Captured By Syrian Rebels


The video that has been circulating on the Internet since August 13 shows two young women surrounded by armed and masked men.
The video that has been circulating on the Internet since August 13 shows two young women surrounded by armed and masked men.
The Belarusian Embassy in Syria is investigating a video that has surfaced showing a woman claiming to be a Belarusian citizen captured by Syrian rebels.

Belarus Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Savinykh said on August 14 that it is too early draw firm conclusions from the video, which has been circulating on the Internet since August 13 and shows two young women surrounded by armed and masked men.

One of the women says she is from Moldova. The other calls herself Svyatlana Markiyanovich from Belarus.

The women say in the video that they are agents of Hizballah and came to Syria with falsified documents as journalists to collect information about the Free Syrian Army.

Last year, a Ukrainian female journalist, Ankhar Kochnyeva, was captured by Syrian rebels and spent almost three months in captivity before escaping.


With reporting by Interfax
  • 16x9 Image

    RFE/RL's Belarus Service

    RFE/RL's Belarus Service is one of the leading providers of news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language. It is a bulwark against pervasive Russian propaganda and defies the government’s virtual monopoly on domestic broadcast media.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG