Ukraine investigating Belarusian activist's death as murder

Suicide or premeditated murder disguised as suicide? Those are the main hypotheses authorities in Kyiv are currently investigating in the death of Vitaly Shishov, according to National Police of Ukraine boss Ihor Klymenko.

Shishov, a 26-year-old Belarusian activist who co-founded the Kyiv-based Belarusian House in Ukraine (BHU), was found hanged in a forest on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital on the morning of August 3.

He was reported to have left a nearby high-rise building to go jogging the day before. He never returned.

"We started worrying after lunch," a fellow activist — who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of his own life — told DW. "Vitaly wasn't somebody who would get lost or break off contact. He was responsible and stable."

Friends and volunteers, then police, searched the forest for Shishov, whose corpse was finally found in the early morning hours after his telephone was traced.

The BHU claims his nose was broken, indicating he had died violently. Police have refuted the claim, only saying that there were scratches on Shishov's body and face that suggested he may have fallen.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian authorities have also stated that there is a discrepancy in the relationship between the size of the body and the height of the branch and length of the rope it was found hanging from — which authorities say does not support the hypothesis of suicide.

Shishov moved to Ukraine after protesting against Belarus regime

Shishov hailed from the Belarusian region of Gomel. In August 2020, he took part in local protests against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and soon felt compelled to leave the country. He emigrated to Ukraine and found work as a computer programmer, living in a Kyiv suburb with his girlfriend.

Rodion Batulin, a co-founder of BHU, told DW that he met Shishov in November 2020: "Some Belarusians had set up a memorial for Raman Bandarenka in front of the Belarusian Embassy, which was removed the next evening. So spontaneously, some people set up a protective guard that I joined, which is how I got to know Vitaly. We started helping Belarusian migrants and drawing attention to the crimes of the Minsk regime." 

Bandarenka was a 31-year-old activist who was brutally beaten in a Minsk courtyard by masked men, thought to have been plainclothes Belarusian police, on November 11, 2020. He died from his injuries in a nearby hospital the next day.

The European Parliament condemned the murder, blaming the Lukashenko regime.

Rodion Batulin, a professional mixed martial arts athlete who moved to Ukraine well before Shishov, makes no secret of his connections to the far-right Azov Battalion and particularly to one of its leaders, Sergei Korotkich, who acquired Ukrainian citizenship in 2015.

The battalion is one of the many paramilitary organizations of volunteers that has fought against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Batulin insists that he has never fought there himself.

Shishov was not on the far-right

Shishov, however, had nothing to do with far-right ideology, other acquaintances say. The BHU pointed out that he did everything to help migrants, supporting anti-Lukashenko campaigns and asking Ukrainian authorities to support the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine.

But Belarusian opposition activist Vyacheslav Sivchik, coordinator of the Razam Solidarity Movement, pointed out that the BSU was in cooperation with the far-right Ukrainian National Corps party and the Azov movement in a certain sense. He said the BHU had announced joint military and tactical exercises with the Azov-linked group "Avangard" and that National Corps activists had also helped search for Shishov when he went missing. 

Asked about the "Belarusian Diaspora" charitable foundation that he and Shishov co-founded, Batulin says it does not accept donations and was founded to "secure the name" to prevent other migrants from "exploiting the word 'diaspora' for themselves."

Killed by Belarusian secret service agents?

On Tuesday evening, Belarusian political exiles gathered in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Kyiv to commemorate Shishov. Almost all those with whom DW spoke believed that he had been killed by the Belarusian secret services.

One BHU member told DW that Shishov had noticed he was being watched and followed. A statement issued by the organization reads: "Vitaly was under surveillance. That fact was reported to the police. Also, we were repeatedly warned by both local sources and our people in Belarus about all sorts of possible provocations, including abduction and liquidation. Vitaly was stoic about the warnings and took them with humor, claiming they might finally help the BHU gain some media attention."

Kyiv police say they had no information about Shishov being under surveillance.

Nowhere is safe

Activist Vyacheslav Sivchik told DW that Belarusian exiles in Kyiv do not feel safe, citing the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet and other contract killings that have taken place there.

"Maybe that is why for most of these migrants, Ukraine is just a transit country," he speculated, saying that the Ukrainian authorities should investigate more thoroughly.

"However, whether you're in Kyiv or in London, there is no feeling of safety when you're dealing with secret services that function like terrorist organizations," Sivchik added.

Batulin says the Belarusian opposition could learn a lot from Ukraine despite the risks: "It is a country with a lot of Russian agents, even among the Ukrainians. But there is no better model to gather experience in protests, regime change and volunteer movements."

Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist at the international investigative journalism website Bellingcat, told Russian broadcaster Echo of Moscow that his group would look into the affair. "Even without prior information, I would say this is not suicide," said Grozev.

"But I would not write it until we have a complete picture of events. We can suppose that this is a special operation, this is a fact. We have been working for several days on the information we have obtained that there are Russian FSB officers in Kyiv who have infiltrated Belarusian opposition groups in Ukraine. Of course, this may be a coincidence. And now, we hear this news. This means that we are now devoting all our resources to investigating this murder, if it is a murder."

Adapted from the German translation of a Russian text