The leader of the Belarusian opposition Maria Kolesnikova has disappeared

According to TASS and Belarusian state TV, the activist was arrested while trying to reach the border with Ukraine. For a news site, however, she would have been kidnapped. What is certain is that Kolesnikova has been unavailable since September 7

(photo: Sergei Bobylev / Tass / Getty Images) There is still no certain information on what happened to Maria Kolesnikova, one of the three politicians who cover the role as leader of the Belarusian opposition (the other two are Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Olga Kovalkova). State TV and the Russian news agency Tass report that, in the night between 7 and 8 September, Kolesnikova was arrested while trying to reach Ukraine, while for the local site Tut.by - which reconstructs the 'happened based on the account of an eyewitness - she was allegedly kidnapped around 10 am on 7 September near the national art museum in Minsk.

The only circumstance that seems to find greater confirmation, at least according to reports from his staff, it is that the activist has not been found for over 24 hours, and the same goes for two other members of the opposition coordination council, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov. According to Belarusian TV, however, the latter two would be in an unidentified location outside the country's borders.

Eyewitness testimony and the reaction of European leaders

The latest ad having seen Kolesnikova would have been a woman in Minsk. The Tut.by website explains that the witness would have immediately recognized the activist, a few meters away from her, and that he would have thought, at first, of approaching her to compliment her on her political commitment, but then she would have changed her mind. Within a few minutes, the woman would have seen Kolesnikova surrounded by hooded men who would have dragged her into a minivan parked a little further away.