In the agency explained that the decision to start or stop the search is made by the initiator country, which is also responsible for placing information about the search in the database
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
The decision to terminate the interstate search for a person is within the competence of the CIS member state that initiated the search, the Ministry of Internal Affairs told RBC in response to a request about why information about the search for the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, disappeared from the agency’s database.
They explained that in the Interstate Information Bank, the law enforcement agencies of the CIS member states jointly place search, forensic and other information, including keeping records of people declared on the interstate wanted list.
“At the same time, the decision to declare a person on the interstate wanted list or to terminate it, as well as to send this information to the centralized accounting of the IIB, is exclusively within the competence of the law enforcement agencies of the CIS member state, which is the initiator of the search,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported. The agency advised RBC to contact the law enforcement agencies of Belarus for comments.
RBC asked the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus for a comment.
The fact that information about Tikhanovskaya appeared in the database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs about wanted persons became known in early October. The Ministry of Internal Affairs explained that the information in the database is entered on the basis of the agreement on relations between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the two countries, as well as agreements on the exchange of information. In Russia, no criminal cases were opened against Tikhanovskaya.
Minsk confirmed that Tikhanovskaya was put on the interstate wanted list, and reported that the basis was actions falling under the article on calls to harm national security.
At the same time, Tikhanovskaya reported that she did not know that she was “involved in some criminal case in Belarus”. “I should probably check my mailbox. <..."My schedule was too busy until I heard this news," she commented.
Data on the search for the opposition leader disappeared from the database of the Russian Interior Ministry at the end of May.
Tikhanovskaya was the only candidate of the Belarusian opposition in the presidential election. According to official data, she lost, taking second place after the current president Alexander Lukashenko. The opposition did not recognize the CEC data and claimed fraud. Tikhanovskaya left Belarus in August 2020 and went to Lithuania.