The search for Maxim in the forest is the last. “The police are not looking there.” Local residents no longer believe that Maxim just got lost. "The version with the accident was checked immediately"

For the first time in my life, I indifferently passed by mushrooms - there are a lot of them in the Svisloch region. But we were not looking for mushrooms: 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk left home on September 16, and the boy's whereabouts are still unknown. This search has already been called the largest rescue operation in the country. The Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police, the military, employees of forestries and the National Academy of Sciences, local residents and hundreds of volunteers - in the small agricultural town of Novy Dvor, everyone was united by a big misfortune.

If you see wild animals, stop

I found the contacts of Andrey Vorobyov, a resident of Minsk, in the group of the Angel search and rescue squad: there are tables on social networks for volunteers who gather in Novy Dvor from different parts of the country. Those who cannot set off on a journey pass food, things, medicines, necessary equipment through fellow travelers. For the rest, drivers report the number of empty seats in the car, the time of departure and the phone number. A conversation with a stranger takes no more than a minute:

Andrey, can I go with you?

Missing Maksim Markhaluk

On Friday morning we are on our way to the Grodno region. All four in this car have the same answer to the question "Why?". Otherwise, we are parents ourselves. Spouses Andrey and Anna left the kids to their grandmother, designer Alexander - with his wife:

- My child is ten years old, like Maxim. Yesterday I solved all work issues, asked for leave. Didn't explain where. Superfluous.

At the entrance to Novy Dvor along the highway, dozens of cars are parked in a long line - there are no passengers in them, everything is in the forest. The newly arrived volunteers first go to the center of the agro-town: here in the Novodvorsky village council a situational headquarters is set up, and tents of the Red Cross stand nearby on the street. Newcomers are registered by Ekaterina Makarenko:

– At 11:00 am, there are 398 people on the list. Svisloch, Volkovysk, Grodno, Pruzhany, Brest, Kobrin, Soligorsk, Minsk, Molodechno, Gomel - it seems that the whole country has gathered here. Those who could not come were given packages with food, warm clothes, batteries, office supplies. The locals are very helpful, preparing hot meals.

An operational meeting is being held in the village council building, after which instructions will be given in which directions to move. In the meantime, volunteers are divided into groups, provided with printouts of maps and orientations, and instructed:

- It is advisable to download the navigator. Communication in the forest can be lost, so stick to your neighbors. No one enters the forest one at a time - only at the command of the leaders. Prompt, but do not swear. If you notice traces, things, stop the line. Stop when you see wild animals.

There are no foreign children

While waiting for the start, the volunteers discuss only one topic: where can Maxim be? Frightened by the animals and went deep into the thicket? Or maybe hiding in a neighboring village? Kidnapped? No matter how terrible the assumptions are, no one loses hope of finding a child.

“If you don’t believe in the best, then you don’t need to go,” says Pavel Blysh, a pre-conscription teacher at Grodno secondary school No. 28. - The guys and I are almost local, from Sokolniki, we navigate in the forest, although we are looking for a person for the first time.

“There are no other people's children,” Elvira, an entrepreneur from Vaukavysk, joins the conversation. - Especially when trouble happens nearby, how can you sit quietly at home here? Everyone in our city is worried. Who did not go, constantly looking through the news, waiting for a good outcome.

Katerina Pochebut has three children, the youngest is not even a year old:

- Today my husband has a “daddy's” day (an additional day off for parents with many children. - Approx. “ZN”), we decided to use it for good. They asked their grandmother to look after the children, and they themselves came here. Grief can happen in any family, it is impossible not to support.

Elena Morozova from Brest was on the search three times in a week:

- 119 kilometers from home one way, not so far, I'm driving. We walked through the forests, through the swamps - it was empty.

“Check well at the landfill, it is not far from the place where the bicycle was found,” Vera Denisovna, an old-timer of the village, approaches a group of volunteers. – I used to work as a school teacher, I know that children can hide in such places. I had students who liked to hide in "shovishcha", in the trees. I don’t see any other places, in the forest everything that was possible has already been bypassed. How long I live, I do not remember so many people here.

In the village council on the table is a list with the telephone numbers of local residents who are ready to provide lodging for the night. Since last Saturday, everyone here has been living with one thought - to find Maxim, Yanina Sikor sighs:

– There are just over 600 residents in Novy Dvor, and everyone who can walk is now in the forest. Teachers, workers, foresters, young people are all there. Maxim's parents and older brother also do not sit at home, they are constantly looking. I don't know what could have happened. Nobody got lost in our village.

Every meter is walked in the forest

If he were here...

Helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations fly in the sky over Belovezhskaya Pushcha. On the ground, every inch of the forest near the agro-town is explored by specialists and volunteers. Our group is sent to the neighboring Studeniki and Boyars: it is necessary to check every yard, attics, abandoned sheds and cellars.

The local grandparents do not need to explain what we forgot here:

- We know, children, we cry every day. We have already searched for him, they came on motorcycles - there is no one.

After several hours of searching the villages, we are convinced that the locals are right. We do not find traces of Maxim in the forest near the New Court. In a chain of 20 people we explore the forest - kilometer after kilometer, until the evening. And nothing. Volunteers go home

- Every meter is covered here. The other day they even found a saw that the foresters had lost many years ago. If Maxim were in Pushcha, they would have found him by now.

And yet there is still hope. The search will continue until the result, assures the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, Police Major General Vadim Sinyavsky:

– We have coordinated the activities of all interested bodies and departments, including volunteers. From the first days, three aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, drones, more than a thousand people have been involved - searches are ongoing at night. Now all possible versions are being worked out. We hope that the boy is alive and will be found soon.

TO THE POINT

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk in the Svisloch region. On Tuesday, September 26, ten days have passed since the parents filed an application that the child is missing. All this time, operational-search and search activities were carried out, said the official representative of the Investigative Committee Yulia Goncharova:

- As in all similar situations, the investigators got involved in the work from the first days. I note that all versions are being worked out. However, we have no direct reason to say that the disappearance of the boy is of a criminal nature. We ourselves hope for the best.

Valentina Markhaliuk has no news about her missing son - only, she says, "mother's heart tells me that he is alive," Radio Liberty reports.

The woman said that psychologists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations come to her every day and help maintain her morale. But, for example, locals and neighbors relate to her grief in different ways: “Some sympathize, come to support, and some blame and condemn. Everyone is different,” she says.

Volunteers in Pushcha were replaced by riot police

Starting today, the 17th since the disappearance of the child, according to the police of the Grodno region, the regional riot police have joined the search for Maxim Markhaliuk in Pushcha.

The searchers of "Angel" and volunteers left the Pushcha. According to the leader of the search and rescue team Sergei Kovgan, they are no longer needed: the search continues, rescuers and trained police officers examine hard-to-reach places and swamps - areas where volunteers cannot go.

Recall, the boy in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on the evening of September 16th. At about 20.00, he rode his bicycle towards the forest near the village of Novy Dvor and disappeared. Later, police officers found the child's bicycle in the forest. Look for Maxim in the last days of hundreds of volunteers. So far, the search has yielded no results.

Maxim Markhaliuk went missing on September 16, 2017. The search for the boy is still ongoing. Nobody is going to close the criminal case. Recently, the version that the boy got into an accident has been on everyone's lips. About how the search for the boy is going, about working with psychics and volunteers, and about the versions that the investigation is considering, TUT.BY was told by one of the leaders of the USC in the Grodno region. And Maxim's mother, five months after the disappearance of the child, is still waiting for her son to go home.

Maxim's day before the disappearance, investigators say, was "more than usual." The boy walked on the street, met his peers several times, called them to the forest for mushrooms, and together with a friend went to the "base", where he nailed some boards in a hut. The last time his mother saw him was at about 18:15 - the boy was riding a bicycle down the street near the house.

Everything was as always. And then the child disappeared.

His search began immediately, that same evening, as soon as his mother called the police. Law enforcement officers arrived at the scene - the police and investigators, a little later, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military began to comb the forest. Then the volunteers joined in.

"The version with the accident was checked immediately"

Two main versions were immediately put forward: an accident happened to the child (he got lost and is in the forest) and a criminal one, - says Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee Department for the Grodno Region, Colonel of Justice Viktor Legan.

According to him, a rescue operation took place in the first two weeks: they were looking for a living child.

The search began from the moment he was reported missing. First, he was searched for by police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military. Aviation equipment was also used: an autogyro (gyrocopter), three helicopters, an airplane and three drones with thermal imagers. Volunteers to the search pulled themselves up when the topic had already spread with the help of social networks and the media.

In parallel, a criminal version was worked out. As part of it, they began to locate people who could be in the area of \u200b\u200ba theoretical crime scene. Previously convicted, released, mentally unhealthy and those who fell into the field of view of the police were checked. For example, those who committed sexual crimes. First, those who could be close to the place where the boy disappeared were checked, and later all those who live not only in the Grodno region, but throughout Belarus.

"Now more than five thousand people have been checked for involvement in the disappearance of the child"

These are the categories of people that I named earlier, as well as those who simply could be in the area where the boy disappeared. We have not received any information that could help us. But work in this direction is still ongoing. Including using a polygraph. Now, as before, we are considering these two main versions. As part of them, we also check private subversions.

- For example?

For example, Maxim was a victim of an accident. For some reason, this version is now on everyone's lips. But we checked it out right away. We inspected all the roads that pass through the forest, established the owners of all vehicles seen there at different times - both private owners and carrier organizations. We talked with drivers using a polygraph. Then they examined every car that, according to our information, could be in the area where the boy disappeared. The cars were checked using forensic technology to identify traces of biological origin, as well as traces of damage to the car, characteristic of an accident.

Here, too, no important information was received.

- Was the version of the involvement of one of the relatives in the disappearance of Maxim considered?

Naturally, at the time of the initiation of the criminal case, we checked all versions without exception and did not disregard all the people who communicated with the child and theoretically could be involved in his disappearance. But there was no information that any of the relatives could be involved in the disappearance of Maxim. If we had even the slightest suspicion on this score, then a criminal case would have been initiated on other elements of the crime, and not on the unknown disappearance of a person.

- And why was the case initiated only ten days after the disappearance of the boy?

A criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of a person is initiated 10 days after the receipt of the application, if the search activities have not brought any results. This is the law. But in fact, the date of the initiation of the case does not mean anything: the investigators, along with the police officers, began to conduct operational-search activities immediately. It does not matter whether a criminal case has been initiated or not, such events are carried out in any case, and investigators immediately participate in the search.

At what stage is the investigation of the criminal case now? Is the search for the boy still ongoing and does it make sense?

Search activities have not been terminated. Of course, they are not held as actively as before, but this is solely due to weather conditions. Militiamen, military and operational officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate periodically leave for Novy Dvor. Employees of the Svisloch District Department of Internal Affairs and an investigator who is included in the investigation team searching for Maxim are always on the spot. Periodically, about once a month, meetings are held on the spot, during which we sum up the interim results of what has been done and what needs to be done. The criminal case is under control in the Central Office of the Investigative Committee, and the course of the search is under the personal control of the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

Hut "base" where the child's bicycle was found

Maxim was afraid of animals, did not swim well and did not navigate the terrain

At the same time, a non-criminal version was also worked out, says Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

If we take into account that the boy was lost in the forest, then first of all we checked the swamps and nearby reservoirs with the help of divers.

Of course, I would very much like to believe that the boy is alive, but all the experts we talked to say that irreversible processes can occur in the body of a child of his age within seven hours, which in turn can lead to death. That is, theoretically, if in those weather conditions the child lay down under a tree and fell asleep, then it is likely that he could develop pneumonia with the corresponding consequences.

The squares where police officers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military worked are marked in brown, volunteers are marked in yellow

We also considered the version that he could be frightened of some animal. Here on the map shows the habitat of those animals that are found in the nearby forests. For example, elk, bison, lynx. Despite the fact that Maxim spent all his free time near the forest or in the forest, he had problems with orientation in the area. There were cases when he got lost, he was also afraid of animals and did not swim well. The boy almost drowned in 2016 - his friends pulled him out of the reservoir.

It can be assumed that he, in a state of passion after a fright, could go to the swamp. In that area, swamps and swamps with a depth of three or more meters. What could - all checked. Even hard-to-reach areas were explored - as far as our capabilities were enough.

- Did only police officers, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Emergency Situations work in the swampy area, or were volunteers also?

Volunteers were not allowed there. Only employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military, and the police worked in the area of the alleged place of the disappearance of the boy. It was important not to miss any details. Here you need a professional look. I can assure you that for the entire distance of his possible route, we have explored every centimeter of the earth.

"All of us together walked 200 square kilometers with our feet. Probably, only with the exception of the bottom of the marshes"

We even exceeded the science-based capabilities of an 11-year-old child: even if he wanted to run away, such a long distance that was examined, he could not do it.

- Did the volunteers interfere with all this work? How do you assess the interaction with the search teams?

This is not the first time a person has gone missing when volunteers are involved in the search. But more often than not, we find people in the first few days or weeks. Here it turned out differently. The boy was not found, time is running out, people began to come to the Pushcha in groups. Volunteers did not interfere and, of course, they could not trample any traces. They did their job well in those squares where the security forces did not work. Truly, we are very grateful to all those people who responded and came in search of Maxim.

"We considered all versions. Probably, except for aliens"

What about psychics? We know that during the search for Maksim Markhaliuk, they offered their help and talked about places where they could look for the boy. Were their versions taken into account?

We worked out many private versions. And, of course, they also listened to psychics. We have accumulated three volumes of information shared by caring citizens (one volume - about 250 sheets).

“Dozens of people wrote and called who “consulted with the cosmos”, who “knew exactly the whereabouts of the child”

We responded to each such message. For example, we get information that a certain lady persistently calls Maxim's family and says that she received information from a psychic and knows where the boy is. We find a psychic. She says she didn't tell anyone. Yes, I talked to the lady, but only suggested that my parents, if they were interested, talk to her. We find a lady. We ask where the information comes from. She replies that she was at the reception of a psychic on personal issues and at the same time asked about Maxim. "And by the way the psychic rolled her eyes, I thought she knew something," the woman says. And there were many such calls. We have worked on each of them and will continue to work if we receive any new information. Psychics certainly do not harm us, but if they helped - and I personally do not know of a single case where a clairvoyant helped solve a crime - then we would have worked for a long time.

- What are the most exotic versions did the investigators have to check?

The most exotic are already covered in the media. Probably with the exception of aliens.
For example, there was a version that the boy was "taken apart for organs" somewhere in Lodz. On it, we interacted with our Polish colleagues. They sent them an international order, and the local police examined those institutions where Maxim could allegedly be. They talked to doctors. The version has not been verified. Like the story about the boy in the Polish driver's van. On it, we also worked closely with Polish law enforcement officers.

"Moreover, initially we interacted with the Polish border guards and we can say with confidence: the boy did not leave the territory of Belarus"

In any case, the technical means of control did not record the fact of crossing the border.

We checked two German citizens who were hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha at that time on our territory. We sent an international assignment to our German colleagues, and they talked with the hunters.

Belarusian tactics and methods of carrying out operational-search and investigative measures to search for the missing are among the most advanced in Europe, investigators say. -If someone disappears there, then they are looking for him on the territory of only one country, but we declare our missing people on the interstate wanted list-.

"I don't believe in any of the versions"

Now the New Court, wrapped in fog and snow, lives its quiet and measured life. The village, where in September volunteers and searchers from all over Belarus gathered, returned to its usual way of life. True, local residents are still discussing what happened and expressing a variety of versions. But the mother of the missing boy does not lean towards any of them: “I don’t want to believe in any of the versions and I’m waiting for my son to go home.”

Maxim's mom - Valentina

Valentina is silent for a long time. We are standing on the porch of the house. The woman is going to work. She, as before, works at a local school as a technician and ran home for lunch.

What can I tell you? the woman finally asks. - That the investigation was poorly conducted, so the child has not yet been found? No, I can’t say that - the investigators worked and are working. I am not an expert to evaluate their activities. And the search was carefully organized. I am very grateful to the volunteers, who all that time were not only in the forest, but also came to me, supported, talked.

- And now you have someone to talk to?

I have almost no friends. Of course, we discuss the loss of Maxim with relatives. They sympathize, but each of them has his own life. Therefore, often we are left alone with my husband. It is especially hard to be at home, where everything reminds you of your son, but he is not.

Valentina says that she knows and even read comments in thematic groups on finding a boy on social networks. He says that some of the remarks become insulting when they, the parents, are blamed for the disappearance of the child.

If only they knew how we feel...

- At some point, psychics joined the search. Did they help you?

Yes, many clairvoyants came. But have you heard their versions?

“According to them, Maxim has long been buried, killed, buried in the forest, or he was taken somewhere in a car. I don’t even want to hear these versions.”

There were many psychics in the first days after the disappearance of Maxim, and now none of them come to us.

- What do you think about the disappearance of your son? Which version do you prefer?

I think nothing. I do not believe in any of the versions. How many there were, and what they just didn’t come up with! By the way, Maxim did not know the forest well, as many here said. So, only this edge, - my mother points towards the forest, which comes close to two-story houses. - I just believe that he will come back. Will walk this road out of the woods as if nothing had happened. You know, sometimes I leave the house, look for a long time at the stadium where he played in the summer, on the street, in the yard and miss him very much. I look forward to it every day. From all these experiences, my father (husband) and I have been on medication all this time.

Valentina speaks quietly, looks tired. From some confusion I ask:

- Maybe you should go somewhere, change the situation ...

How can I leave? What if the baby comes back?

February 19, 2018, 09:42
12705

Maxim Markhaluk September 16, 2017. Now the search for the boy is still ongoing, although not conducted by such a large number of people as in September. Nobody is going to close the criminal case. They are engaged in a special group, which includes 6 investigators and police officers.

About how the search for the boy is going now, about working with psychics and volunteers, and about the versions that the investigation is considering, TUT.BY was told by one of the leaders of the USC in the Grodno region. And Maxim's mother, five months after the disappearance of the child, is still waiting for her son to go home.

Maxim's day before his disappearance, investigators say, was "more than usual". The boy walked on the street, met his peers several times, called them to the forest for mushrooms, and together with a friend went to the “base”, where he nailed some boards in a hut. The last time his mother saw him was at about 6:15 pm - the boy was riding a bicycle down the street near the house.

Everything was as always. And then the child disappeared.

“The version with the accident was checked immediately”

- Two main versions were immediately put forward: an accident happened to the child (he got lost and is in the forest) and a criminal one, - says Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee for the Grodno region, Colonel of Justice Viktor Legan.

According to him, a rescue operation took place in the first two weeks: they were looking for a living child.

-The search began from the moment he was reported missing. First, he was searched for by police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military. Aviation equipment was also used: an autogyro (gyrocopter), three helicopters, an airplane and three drones with thermal imagers. Volunteers to the search pulled themselves up when the topic had already spread with the help of social networks and the media.

“Now more than five thousand people have been checked for involvement in the disappearance of the child”

- For example?

- For example, Maxim became a victim of an accident. For some reason, this version is now on everyone's lips. But we checked it out right away. We inspected all the roads that pass through the forest, established the owners of all vehicles seen there at different times - both private owners and carrier organizations. We talked with drivers using a polygraph. Then they examined every car that, according to our information, could be in the area where the boy disappeared. The cars were checked using forensic technology to identify traces of biological origin, as well as traces of damage to the car, characteristic of an accident.

Here, too, no important information was received.

- Was the version of the involvement of one of the relatives in the disappearance of Maxim considered?

- Naturally, at the time of the initiation of the criminal case, we checked all versions without exception and did not disregard all the people who communicated with the child and theoretically could be involved in his disappearance. But there was no information that any of the relatives could be involved in the disappearance of Maxim. If we had even the slightest suspicion on this score, then a criminal case would have been initiated on other elements of the crime, and not on the unknown disappearance of a person.

- And why is it only ten days after the disappearance of the boy?

- A criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of a person is initiated 10 days after the receipt of the application, if the search activities have not brought any results. This is the law. But in fact, the date of the initiation of the case does not mean anything: the investigators, along with the police officers, began to conduct operational-search activities immediately. It does not matter whether a criminal case has been initiated or not, such events are carried out in any case, and investigators immediately participate in the search.

- At what stage is the investigation of the criminal case now? Is the search for the boy still ongoing and does it make sense?

- Search activities are not terminated. Of course, they are not held as actively as before, but this is solely due to weather conditions. Militiamen, military and operational officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate periodically leave for Novy Dvor. Employees of the Svisloch District Department of Internal Affairs and an investigator who is included in the investigation team searching for Maxim are always on the spot. Periodically, about once a month, meetings are held on the spot, during which we sum up the interim results of what has been done and what needs to be done. The criminal case is under control in the Central Office of the Investigative Committee, and the course of the search is under the personal control of the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

Maxim was afraid of animals, did not swim well and did not navigate the terrain

At the same time, a non-criminal version was also worked out, says Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

- If we take into account that the boy was lost in the forest, then first of all we checked the swamps and nearby reservoirs with the help of divers.

- Did only police officers, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Emergency Situations work in the swampy area, or did volunteers also work?

- Volunteers were not allowed there. Only employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military, and the police worked in the area of the alleged place of the disappearance of the boy. It was important not to miss any details. Here you need a professional look. I can assure you that for the entire distance of his possible route, we have explored every centimeter of the earth.

“All of us together walked 200 square kilometers with our feet. Probably, only with the exception of the bottom of the marshes "

We even exceeded the science-based capabilities of an 11-year-old child: even if he wanted to run away, such a long distance that was examined, he could not do it.

- Did the volunteers interfere with all this work? How do you assess the interaction with the search teams?

- This is not the first fact of the disappearance of a person, when volunteers are involved in the search. But more often than not, we find people in the first few days or weeks. Here it turned out differently. The boy was not found, time is running out, people began to come to the Pushcha in groups. Volunteers did not interfere and, of course, they could not trample any traces. They did their job well in those squares where the security forces did not work. Truly, we are very grateful to all those people who responded and came in search of Maxim.

“We considered all versions. Probably other than aliens."

- What about psychics? We know that during the search for Maksim Markhaliuk, they offered their help and talked about places where they could look for the boy. Were their versions taken into account?

- We worked out a lot of private versions. And, of course, they also listened to psychics. We have accumulated three volumes of information shared by caring citizens(one volume - about 250 sheets. - Approx. TUT.BY).

“Dozens of people wrote and called who “consulted with the cosmos”, who “knew exactly the whereabouts of the child””

We responded to each such message. For example, we get information that a certain lady persistently calls Maxim's family and says that she received information from a psychic and knows where the boy is. We find a psychic. She says she didn't tell anyone. Yes, I talked to the lady, but only suggested that my parents, if they were interested, talk to her. We find a lady. We ask where the information comes from. She replies that she was at the reception of a psychic on personal issues and at the same time asked about Maxim. “And by the way the psychic rolled her eyes, I thought she knew something,” the woman says. And there were many such calls. We have worked on each of them and will continue to work if we receive any new information. Psychics certainly do not harm us, but if they helped - and I personally do not know of a single case where a clairvoyant helped solve a crime - then we would have worked for a long time.

- What are the most exotic versions did the investigators have to check?

- The most exotic ones are already covered in the media. Probably with the exception of aliens. For example, there was a version that the boy was “taken apart for organs” somewhere in Lodz. On it, we interacted with our Polish colleagues. They sent them an international order, and the local police examined those institutions where Maxim could allegedly be. They talked to doctors. The version has not been verified. Like the story about the boy in the Polish driver's van. On it, we also worked closely with Polish law enforcement officers.

“Moreover, initially we interacted with the Polish border guards and we can say with confidence: the boy did not leave the territory of Belarus”

In any case, the technical means of control did not record the fact of crossing the border.

We checked two German citizens who were hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha at that time on our territory. We sent an international assignment to our German colleagues, and they talked with the hunters.

Belarusian tactics and methods of carrying out operational-search and investigative measures to search for the missing are among the most advanced in Europe, investigators say. “If someone disappears there, then they are searched for on the territory of only one country, but we put our missing people on the interstate wanted list.”

“I don’t believe in any of the versions”

Now the New Court, wrapped in fog and snow, lives its quiet and measured life. The village, where in September volunteers and searchers from all over Belarus gathered, returned to its usual way of life. True, local residents are still discussing what happened and expressing a variety of versions. But the mother of the missing boy does not lean towards any of them: “I don’t want to believe in any of the versions and I’m waiting for my son to go home.”

Valentina is silent for a long time. We are standing on the porch of the house. The woman is going to work. She, as before, works at a local school as a technician and ran home for lunch.

-What can I tell you? - Finally the woman asks. - That the investigation was poorly conducted, so the child has not yet been found? No, I can’t say that - the investigators worked and are working. I am not an expert to evaluate their activities. And the search was carefully organized. I am very grateful to the volunteers who all that time were not only in l Yes, but also came to me, supported, talked.

-Do you have anyone to talk to now?

- I have almost no friends. Of course, we discuss the loss of Maxim with relatives. They sympathize, but each of them has his own life. Therefore, often we are left alone with my husband. It is especially hard to be at home, where everything reminds you of your son, but he is not.

-If only they knew how we feel...

- At some point, psychics joined the search. Did they help you?

- Yes, many clairvoyants came. But have you heard their versions?

“According to them, Maxim has long been buried, killed, buried in the forest, or he was taken somewhere in a car. I don’t even want to hear these versions.”

There were many psychics in the first days after the disappearance of Maxim, and now none of them come to us.

- What do you think about the disappearance of your son? Which version do you prefer?

- I think nothing. I do not believe in any of the versions. How many there were, and what they just didn’t come up with! By the way, Maxim did not know the forest well, as many here said. So, just this edge,- Mom points towards the forest, which comes close to two-story houses. - I just believe he will come back. Will walk this road out of the woods as if nothing had happened. You know, sometimes I leave the house, look for a long time at the stadium where he played in the summer, on the street, in the yard and miss him very much. I look forward to it every day. From all these experiences, my father and I(husband - Approx. TUT.BY) All this time on medication.

Valentina speaks quietly, looks tired. From some confusion I ask:

- Maybe you should go somewhere, change the scenery...

- How can I leave? What if the baby comes back?

How to look for a "lost" in the forest and what to do if you meet a bear? Tips from "Angel" and Nikolai Drozdov11 September 1, 2019 at 09:21Since 2012, volunteers have rescued over 600 people. For one day, we were able, albeit under simplified conditions, to see how the "angels" work.

Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared a year and a half ago, is still being sought13 February 7, 2019 at 06:36 pmTo date, the regional police consider an accident to be the main version. It is assumed that the boy went into the forest and got lost.

"Once again we don't go to the Pushcha." How Novy Dvor lives a year after the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk48 September 16, 2018 at 12:38 pmExactly one year ago, on September 16, 2017, Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. At first, the police and local residents searched for him, and then volunteers joined the search. Unfortunately, the boy was never found. A year later, TUT.BY visited Novy Dvor.

In Belarus, more than a thousand people were searched for in the forests in five years, 37 could not be found15 July 18, 2018 at 03:39 pmIn Belarus over the past five years, more than 1,000 people have been searched for in the forests, Dmitry Kryukov, head of the department for organizing search work at the main criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said today, BelTA informs.

TRK "Mir" explained how the photo of Maxim Markhaliuk got into a fictional story in the program. Editor fired20 June 7, 2018 at 11:16 pmA photograph of the missing Maxim Markhaliuk appeared in the Family Matters program on the Mir TV channel. She was used to illustrate a fictional story of disputed paternity in the Family Matters program. Now the channel is investigating how this could have happened.

Photo of missing Maxim Markhaliuk used in fictional story on Mir TV channel44 June 7, 2018 at 12:11The photograph of the missing boy appeared in the Family Matters program on the Mir TV channel. True, they used it to illustrate a fictional story of controversial paternity.

"He swam badly and did not navigate in the forest." Investigator and mother - about the long search for Maxim Markhaliuk88 February 19, 2018 at 07:00Maxim Markhaliuk went missing on September 16, 2017. Now the search for the boy is still ongoing, although not conducted by such a large number of people as in September. Nobody is going to close the criminal case. They are engaged in a special group, which includes 6 investigators and police officers. About how the search for the boy is going now, about working with psychics and volunteers, and about the versions that the investigation is considering, TUT.BY was told by one of the leaders of the USC in the Grodno region. And Maxim's mother, five months after the disappearance of the child, is still waiting for her son to go home.

The police told how the search for Maxim Markhaliuk went on and what is being done now37 December 22, 2017 at 01:18 pmThe police held a day of information in Novy Dvor, where Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared on September 16th. In addition to other topics, the search for a boy was also touched upon.

The term for the investigation of the case of the disappearance of 10-year-old Maxim in Pushcha was extendedNovember 27, 2017 at 13:00Investigators, together with the police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Defense, local authorities and volunteers, have done a huge amount of work aimed at establishing the whereabouts of the boy.

"We believe that he just went to travel." Maxim, who disappeared in Pushcha, turned 11 years old27 October 10, 2017 at 08:57 pmNow in Novy Dvor nothing reminds of the fact that two weeks ago, the largest search and rescue operation in the country in recent times took place here.

"Polish trace" by Maxim Markhaliuk. The truck driver said he was picking up another boy32 October 5, 2017 at 02:09 pmThe press service of the police in the city of Radom assured us that little Maksim, who had disappeared in Belarus, was known here, and if information about any street children appeared, this information would not go unnoticed.

Belarusian Foreign Ministry: no official information from Poland useful for finding our boy has been received6 October 4, 2017 at 06:42 pmThe diplomat said that in connection with reports in the Polish regional media, the Belarusian Embassy in Warsaw and the consulates in Bialystok and Biala Podlaska are monitoring the situation.

"May be related to your missing boy." Police in Poland are looking for a child who hid in a truck178 October 4, 2017 at 01:21 pmA Polish regional information website has reported that Siedlce police are looking for an unidentified 10-year-old boy.

The mother of Maxim, who disappeared in Pushcha, believes that her son is alive. What's new in search?79 October 3, 2017 at 03:19 pmThe woman said that psychologists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations come to her every day and help maintain her morale. But, for example, locals and neighbors treat her grief differently.

There are fewer volunteers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations is working. A report from Novy Dvor, where they have been looking for a child in Pushcha for 13 days78 September 29, 2017 at 08:10 pmAt the moment, searches in Belovezhskaya Pushcha continue, but on a smaller scale. The large camp of the search and rescue squad "Angel" moved to the square near the village council.