Family confirms kidnapping of Moldovan and Belarusian nationals in Syria

• 14.08.2013, 8:15

Two women from Belarus and Moldova were kidnapped more than a week ago.

A video of the women calling themselves citizens of Belarus and Moldova Sviatlana Markiyanavich (Svetlana Markiyanovich) and Karina Koltso and saying they had been taken captive by Syrian rebels appeared on YouTube on August 9. They stand surrounded by masked armed men and read from a paper they arrived in Syria under the guise of journalists to work for Hezbollah. Many think the video was staged.

As for the Belarusian woman, there is an account of Sviatlana Markiyanavich on Odnoklassniki social networking website. The person in the pictures and on the video appears to be the same. Sviatlana Markiyanavich, 30, lived in the town of Zhodzina. Her last visit to the account was on June 17, 2013. One of the photos shows her against the background of a plane's window. No more details were found on her Odnoklassniki account.

Radio Svaboda journalists obtained more information about the other woman, Moldovan citizen Karina Koltso.

Her brother Leodnid Bydko said she had gone abroad to work on July 25.

“She called me a week ago and said she had been kidnapped. I said I didn't know what to do. She then said I should contact the woman who had sent her there. I asked how it happened. She said she had been kidnapped while she was at her friend's. Both women are held captive.”

She made the first phone call from a Lebanese number. Her second call was made from a Syrian number. She said she was in Syria.

Karina Koltso, 32, doesn't have family, children and a stable job. Her brother has not informed the police yet.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus is examining the circumstances of how a video showing a woman who says she is a Belarusian national taken captive in Syria appeared on the internet.