Missing Chechen woman appears in video released by regional official

Belkisa Mintsaeva

A senior Chechen official has released a video of a woman who disappeared six weeks ago after reportedly being detained by security forces.

Belkisa Mintsaeva vanished in mid-April after travelling to the Russian republic to seek custody of her children. Her sudden appearance in the footage comes after the Russian Prosecutor General's Office ordered an inquiry into her suspected unlawful detention.

In the footage, which appears to be self-recorded, Mintsaeva says she is "alive and healthy" and asks Russian journalists and campaigners to "not turn us into a media story".

However, it remains unclear where and under what circumstances the video was recorded, or whether Mintsaeva is currently free.

Akhmed Dudaev, the deputy chair of Chechnya’s government who published the clip on Thursday, dismissed concerns over her safety. He described human rights activists and independent journalists as "clowns" who were seeking "cheap hype".

Before her disappearance, Mintsaeva had lived outside Chechnya but returned to resolve a custody dispute with her former husband. Campaigners said she had previously expressed fear about returning to the region due to potential pressure from her relatives and local security forces.

An official inquiry into her case was launched after Ksenia Goryacheva, a member of the Russian parliament, petitioned the country's Prosecutor General.

Documents published by the Caucasus Without a Mother campaign group show that the regional prosecutor's office in Chechnya was instructed to verify Mintsaeva's whereabouts on 8 May. No updates on her legal status or potential charges have since been made public.

Human rights organisations say Mintsaeva's case fits a broader pattern of women disappearing after returning to Chechnya or other North Caucasus republics.

In a similar case in 2023, activist Seda Suleymanova was forcibly returned to the republic by relatives. Chechen authorities later released a "proof of life" video featuring her, but she has not been seen since and campaigners fear she may have been killed.