Anzhalika Melnikava, the former speaker of the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council who disappeared in March 2025 (along with funds from the Białoruś Liberty foundation) has become the owner of two apartments in Minsk, according to a report by the independent outlet Zerkalo, which was able to confirm the purchases thanks to official documents obtained by its newsroom.
Those records show that in September 2025 Melnikava bought a one-room apartment in a building on Lyubimova Avenue with an area of 33.8 square meters. Prices for similar apartments in that area range from 208,000 Belarusian rubles (about $71,000) to 240,000 Belarusian rubles (about $82,000).
In January 2026, Melnikava bought another apartment, this one 91.8 square meters in size (though in the documents it is also listed as a one-room apartment). It is located in the Mayak Minska residential complex on Petr Mstislavets Street.
In March 2026, Melnikava also became the sole owner of yet another Minsk apartment, one that she had jointly owned with her now ex-husband. Zerkalo reported that ownership was transferred to her under an agreement dividing the couple’s shared property following a divorce that was filed during Melnikava’s time in Warsaw. The apartment had been placed under arrest in 2024 as part of a criminal case against 257 participants in the then-upcoming elections to the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council; however, that measure was lifted in February 2026.
As previously reported by The Insider, about a year after Melnikava abruptly left Poland, where she had lived since 2021, she was photographed at a fitness center in Minsk. The images were posted to Instagram stories on March 16 by trainer Galina Kazantseva, and several people familiar with Melnikava confirmed her identity. A tattoo on her left arm, partially visible in one of the photos, supports their authenticity. Shortly afterward, her father told journalists she had been in Belarus “for quite a while,” though he said he had not seen her or her children in person for a long time.
As The Insider’s investigators previously found, Anzhalika Melnikava disappeared from her home in Warsaw shortly after being elected speaker of the Belarusian opposition’s Coordination Council. After leaving Poland, Melnikava spent several days in London, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates before returning to Belarus. At the same time, she withdrew approximately $150,000 from the account of the Białoruś Liberty foundation, which had received grants to support the work of the Coordination Council. As The Insider found, since at least 2023 Melnikava had been in a relationship with Belarusian KGB officer Alexei Lobeev, who was using a cover passport in the name of “Aliaksei Hardzeyeu” (or “Alexei Gordeev” in the Russian transliteration).
