GRODNO, September 27 - Sputnik, Inna Grishuk. Maksim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Pushcha, had been thinking about running away from home for a long time. This is told by the inhabitants of the village of Novy Dvor, in the surrounding forests of which they have been looking for a 10-year-old boy for the second week already. Many are sure: the child was not lost, but consciously left home.

Why go to the forest at night looking?

“I saw Maxim in the village on Saturday. At five o’clock in the evening. Before that, I was in the forest. I went out, and then Maxim was driving. and I’m not afraid,” says Valentina Alexandrovna, a resident of Novy Dvor, Maxim was friends with her son and often came to visit them.

According to the interlocutor of Sputnik, her friend said that on the same day, but after 19:00, she saw Maxim riding in the center of the village. And then - as if he fell through the ground, everyone said that he had gone into the forest. But the woman is sure that going to the forest so late is not like Maxim. After all, at eight o'clock in the evening at this time of the year it is already getting dark, and the boy would not want to go into the darkness.

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“He was so a little cowardly. He was even afraid of my puppy. When he came to us, he usually stands near the gate and calls: “Ilyusha!” or “Aunt Valya!” And I’ll go out and take him to the house. it’s unlikely for him to go at night, ”adds Valentina Alexandrovna.

Many in the village agree that if the child had been in the forest that evening, he would have been found. After all, the search began immediately and continued even at night. And a child wandering through the night forest could not have gone far.

Made plans to escape for three years

The villagers assume that the boy could be very frightened of something. And not bison, but, for example, the coming punishment for some kind of offense. "Maybe he was afraid of his parents?" - the neighbors argue and tell one telling example.

Last year, for some reason, Maxim went to the lake alone, without his parents, went swimming and nearly drowned. He was rescued by people nearby. On that day, his parents severely punished him, they say, even beat him.

Rumor has it that then the boy, either seriously or out of resentment, told his parents: “I won’t live with you and I’ll run away anyway.

In the village, the words of Maxim's own grandmother are also transmitted, who told how her grandson several years ago, when he was 7 or 8 years old, said: "I will run away from home anyway." Grandmother to him: "They will find you." And he: "They won't find me, I'll go to the swamps." And then he periodically said that he had such a plan.

Another resident of Novy Dvor, Tatyana Petrovna, said that the child had recently changed.

“Maxim has been friends with my grandson since the age of five. Always together when he is on vacation. And this year, the grandson said that he would no longer be friends. That Maxim started smoking, behaved differently. Maybe it’s teenage. that I didn’t tell my parents right away, it was my grandson who asked me not to tell anyone,” recalls the villager.

At the same time, the woman emphasizes several times that Maxim's family is very positive, prosperous, hardworking parents.

Could leave

The main version, which the residents of Novy Dvor are inclined to believe, is that Maxim left for another area, and did so on the same evening or the next morning.

The child most likely had money. Even local children say that it is very easy to earn them in Pushcha. For example, you can sell berries or mushrooms.

And everyone characterizes Maxim as a very lively and purposeful boy. It is said that he often went to the forest.

Tatyana Petrovna argues: “We searched so many times with thermal imagers, walked with dogs, and how many people passed through the forest on the weekends. Ours are constantly walking. If the boy were here, they would have found at least some traces.”

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Rumors that at different times they saw a child either in the forest or on the road, neighbors consider fiction. And they immediately ask: "If they saw a child, why didn't they catch up? They are adults. But it turns out that they saw and were allowed to leave."

Many locals constantly go to the forest on their own to look for Maxim.

“My soul hurts for the boy and for the family. We also don’t sleep at night. I go to the forest every day and in the evening, I call him. And now I’m going too, maybe something will be found,” adds Valentina Alexandrovna.

Recall that Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared on September 16, was put on the national wanted list. On September 26, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the disappearance of the child. Maxim has not been found yet. The main version of the police - the boy got lost in the forest.

Firsthand: Impressions of the "CentreSpas" coordinator about the search operation in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Updated)

• 26.09.2017 14:20

A lot is said about the boy lost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. For the twelfth day, the search for Maxim Markhaliuk from Novy Dvor, Svisloch District, continues. Recently, the guys from Lida returned from the search, who spent more than one day in the Svisloch forests.

The correspondent of "Lidskaya Gazeta" spoke with the coordinator of the PSO "TsentrSpas" Alexei Zhol, who told how everything is happening on the spot. Updated: search history from AutoGrodno reader Egor.

- Alexei, when did you start participating in the operation?

You can say from the very beginning, on the second day. It was Sunday, September 17, we went to the Shchuchinsky district, the village of Dembrovo, where an old woman disappeared, who had gone for mushrooms. Almost already approached the place, as received a request to come in search of a child. We turned the car around and in a couple of hours we were in Novy Dvor. Already there, at the headquarters, we were acquainted with the details of what had happened.

- What exactly was told about the disappearance of the boy?

On Saturday, September 16, at about 6-7 pm Maxim went for a walk, to ride a bike. At some point, he left his friends, saying that he would go to the "headquarters" - a hut that the boys built in the forest. Parents, without waiting for their son, around 8-9 pm already sounded the alarm and turned to the police. From that moment on, the search began. The first thing they found was a hut, and next to it was Maxim's bicycle and someone's basket with a small amount of mushrooms. Dogs were released along the fresh trail. There were two of them, and both from this place, having reached the village, returned to the forest road, then lost track. In addition, it turned out that the boy was seen by a mushroom picker from Minsk. He said that around this evening he saw a boy run out onto the road, called out to him, but he ran even faster.

- Who could scare Maksimka so much?

The first and main version, which began to be worked out, was that Maxim could have been frightened by bison. Nearby, according to local residents, there are two large herds, one with about a hundred heads, the other with more than 30. As you know, in those days the weather was dry, there was little water in the canals, and bison came out close to the village. It was a large herd of one hundred heads that was noticed by the inhabitants shortly before the disappearance of the boy. There is a possibility that Maxim, being in a hut, saw bison, got scared and began to flee in a panic. Hearing the shout of the mushroom picker, in stress I did not understand who was shouting and why. Further behind the indicated road, to which the dogs were brought (on the other side), a swampy area begins after a few kilometers.

- When you arrived, how many people were involved in the search?

Yes, a lot, more than a thousand people. From everywhere. Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Mogilev, Grodno, Molodechno, Volkovysk. This is just what I immediately remembered. I think there were volunteers from all over our country. Immediately we began to work on a dedicated site, other groups - on their own. They combed the forests and swamps. Almost all night. Monday is a working day, many volunteers were forced to leave, but the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Internal Affairs remained to work. I went back on Tuesday, worked with the "Angels" (search and rescue squad). From the same day, the search engines organized duty: Tuesday - Lida, Minsk, Wednesday - Brest, Thursday - Soligorsk, Friday - Gomel. On Saturday, a general meeting of all search and rescue teams of Belarus was announced.

- Is it true that volunteers were denied?

Truth. But only because there were not enough coordinators - people capable of leading groups. There were a lot of applicants. But one must understand that searching in the forest, especially in the protected area, where logging is not carried out, and the area is swampy, is a very responsible job. Some experienced searchers got stuck waist-deep at times. And not all beginners withstood the load. The forest there is very heavy, there are many swamps and blockages. Again, volunteers are different people. It is difficult to form a cohesive group. Someone allows himself to pick mushrooms instead of work, someone to warm himself with alcohol. And that happens, unfortunately. I want to say that on the second day we managed to gather an excellent group of 32 people. I will even note that this is the best group of volunteers for the entire time of my participation in the search for people.

- Were they men or representatives of the "weaker sex" too?

Both men and women. Moreover, you are not weak at all (smiles). When we were almost finishing our square, there was an opportunity to send some of the people to the camp and, of course, the first thing we did was to offer the women a rest. It wasn't there! They all refused.

- Have you seen animals that could scare the boy?

Seen. Bison, as well as wolf tracks. But by that time, aviation had already begun to work actively, and the animals, of course, had gone to other places. But, by the way, before leaving, on Sunday, we saw that large herd of bison, the animals were already coming out from the other side of the forest.

It is not true! The meals were organized very well. Two field kitchens were working, I did not hear any complaints from anyone that they were left hungry or cold. Accommodation was organized in the gym of the local school, and the villagers themselves came and offered accommodation in their homes, took everyone. For example, I, with my group and others (there were 10 people in all) were accommodated in a large house with a local resident. In general, people are very responsive: someone helps with food, someone with clothes, someone with money (for example, for gasoline).

And there are really a lot of rumors around this story. Psychics have become more active, and from different countries. Some call and almost in an orderly tone command - where to go. I must say right away that not a single landmark indicated by psychics lived up to expectations. Moreover, I will add, this has not happened in all the time of my participation in various searches. So - whether or not to believe "clairvoyants" is, of course, a personal matter, but it is better to believe yourself and official information.

- I heard reproaches that there is little aviation and other technical means of search ...

Again not true. Aviation, thermal imagers, drones, divers - everything was involved immediately. I have never seen such a highly organized search operation. Of course, all sorts of fantastic versions sound: either the boy, they say, “deceives” thermal imagers, hiding in some wells, then, allegedly, some friend disappears for a while and presumably brings him food. These versions are put forward, not taking into account that this is a little boy who is just about to turn 11 years old, and neither Rambo nor Batman. Again, along roads, villages and abandoned houses: all objects - farms, haystacks, villages, abandoned houses have been worked out and combed "like a rake", there are round-the-clock posts on exit roads. And all this was done not later, but immediately.

- How long will the rescue operation continue and have there been fewer people who want to search?

It will continue as long as possible until the result. My group and I plan to go again in the second half of the week. The most impenetrable swamp areas remained, and in total, at the time of our departure, more than 20 square kilometers of the area had been worked out. There are always fewer people who want to search on weekdays, but as far as I know, even now 300-400 people work there, on weekends the number of people will increase again.

Today, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the disappearance of ten-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk.

On the fact of the disappearance on September 16 of a minor resident of the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, Maxim Markhaliuk, in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus, a criminal case was initiated, the press service of the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

If within 10 days after the official statement the whereabouts of the missing person is not established, then Part 2 of Art. 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure makes it possible to make a decision to initiate a criminal case on the fact of an unknown disappearance.

To date, there is no evidence that a child missing in the Svisloch region became a victim of a crime.

While the entire public, people hope that the boy is still alive, that he is probably lost, waiting for help somewhere, it would even be immoral to initiate a murder case. Not to mention that it is illegal, - said the head of the Investigative Committee Ivan Noskevich.

The UK does not guarantee that a child could not become a victim of a crime, but they would not want to get ahead of themselves either.

As soon as new evidence appears that will make it possible to judge the possible enforced nature of the disappearance, we will immediately initiate an appropriate criminal case, - said the chairman of the Investigative Committee.

Ivan Noskevich said that no new traces, except for a bicycle and a basket with mushrooms, have yet been found.

Yesterday, about 500 people worked at the site: volunteers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, police, foresters and local residents. The search continued in the area of ​​the village of Novy Dvor, near the town of Teraspol and in the forest adjacent to the main road. The headquarters reported that the search engines had already reached the maximum distance that a child could overcome. Some areas are surveyed more than once.

Updated on 27-09-2017 9:20

The story of how the work of volunteers is organized was told by AutoGrodno user Egor and shared a video:

“I arrived at 11 am. I drove, as indicated, to the village council in Novy Dvor. There were a lot of people there, cars too, and the regions were very different, I noticed the car even from St. Petersburg. Having parked the car, I went to look for where the volunteers were being registered. one of the tents. I entered my data and mobile phone number, began to wait for the group to form. Our group recruited 33 people. Immediately, the guys from the Red Cross instructed how to stay in the forest - everything is clear and understandable. Some members of the group tried to insert their "I "But overall it went pretty well.

Our square was 15 km in the woods from the collection point. But by car, about 40 km came out on a detour along more or less travel roads. Gathered in a column, began to move. The people in our group were different and from different places: Minsk, Brest, Shchuchin, Grodno, etc. We got to the right square, but spent some time near the barrier at the entrance to the reserve, while we received permission to enter.

We got to the point: counting people, bearing the edge of the square, set the azimuth - and into battle.

Yes, I thought it was that simple. It turns out that for people without practice to keep the column even at a distance of 5 meters from each other is a very big problem, and it is very annoying. Highly. The patience of the guys from the Red Cross is something. Nor can they speak and order in a rude manner. And I just want to shout: "People, you did not come to pick mushrooms"! And look for a man! And girls... you're not out for a walk!"

A column of 33 people covers an average of 250 meters. The step is slow, even very slow. You look at everything where you can hide and what is suspicious. Then you wait for everyone to gather.

In the forest until 19:00 - then everyone must be taken out. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with thermal imagers begin work. At their signal, special teams with dogs are delivered. By the way, helicopters fly non-stop. But the forest is so huge, the fields are so big, there are a lot of irrigation canals, there are a lot of abandoned houses and corn fields everywhere.

With the friends of the missing, as I understand it, the conversations were conducted by psychologists. They say they don't know anything. Communicate only in the presence of parents. And again, rumors: either the grandmother heard the child crying, or someone saw in the corn, or something else. By the way, in the crowd every now and then heard: "Give us his friends, we will knock out the truth."

Many stayed overnight. Locals provide assistance with overnight accommodation, free of charge. They posted at the headquarters the phone numbers of those who can accept them for the night. Call, ask and spend the night. They feed. But take it with you too. Before leaving, many people ask who needs to go home, if the paths coincide, then they give a ride. Let's wait for news.

Thanks to everyone who cares!"

Added: on the 09:00 27-09-2017 year the boy was NOT found!

Rescuers earnestly ask not to spread rumors, but to wait for an official statement from law enforcement agencies! All relevant information will be PUBLISHED on the resources

For the second month, law enforcement officers and volunteers have been searching for a schoolboy who disappeared in mid-September. Maxim Markhaliuk went to Belovezhskaya Pushcha for mushrooms and did not return home. The internal affairs bodies of Belarus sent information about the missing boy through Interpol, but there is still no information about the child.

AiF recalls cases when missing children were still alive even after a long time.

abduction

The disappearance of 5-year-old Yakov Ziborov became known in March 2016. Unidentified persons took the boy from an apartment in Moscow, where he lived with his grandparents. Russian law enforcers have suggested that the disappearance of the child may be of a criminal nature.

For more than a year, the boy was searched all over the world, including with the help of Interpol. As a result, he was found alive and well in June 2017 in the Mogilev region and handed over to his grandmother.

Representatives of the Investigative Committee of Russia reported that members of a radical religious community were involved in the kidnapping of the boy. At the same time, according to one version, the mother of the child belongs to this community.

In 2010, a resident of the Kyiv region, 10 years later, found her daughter, who was kidnapped at a train station in the Ukrainian capital in 2000 at the age of 4 years. The mother saw her daughter in one of the Internet editions of the program dedicated to the search for missing children. At the meeting, the girl could not even recognize her. The woman had to undergo a DNA examination and within two years to prove her relationship with her daughter.

In 2008, in Latvian Daugavpils, 16 years after the disappearance, a boy was found who was abducted at the age of one and a half months. As it turned out, all this time he lived next door to his real parents. The case of the missing child was solved by accident: the woman with whom he had lived all these years ended up in a pre-trial detention center, the teenager was handed over to social workers. Starting to collect documents for the boy, officials discovered that he did not have a birth certificate. After lengthy clarifications, the woman admitted that the child was adopted. DNA analysis fully confirmed the relationship of the lost child with the parents who have been looking for him all these years.

Most of the missing people in Belarus stay for ten days. If by this time the person has not been found, he is put on the wanted list. In addition, according to paragraph 2 of Art. 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Belarus, a criminal case is initiated on the fact of disappearance. Moreover, even if a person disappeared more than twenty years ago, the criminal case is not closed, but only suspended until the moment when it becomes known where he is.

RUN AWAY FROM HOUSE

In March 2017, three children from Vitebsk went to school for classes, but never returned home. They took their passports and money with them, but left mobile phones and a note saying they were leaving home.

A week later, the missing children were found almost 9,000 km from their home in Khabarovsk, Russia. Schoolchildren were removed from the train, on which they intended to get to Vladivostok.

In 2015, a mother and daughter were found in Russia, who disappeared in 2001, and since 2006 were considered murdered. It turned out that the residents of Grodno decided to break off all relations with their relatives and left for a permanent place of residence in a neighboring country, without informing anyone about it.

In Russia, mother and daughter lived without registration. Identification documents were not reissued.

LOST

In 2007, two girls from the Moscow region, who attended the Young Biologist club, came to the Urals with a group of environmentalists. In the area of ​​the reserve in the Sverdlovsk region, the girls got lost.

Children in the taiga ate berries, drank water from springs and streams, and slept on cedar branches. Wandering the forest, the girls walked tens of kilometers. The girls were prepared for survival in nature in the classroom. The children were found alive and well by a foot rescue team after more than a week of searching.

Photo in the article: Onliner.by

So. Before digging into such a furious topic, I simply have to make a number of explanations. The next paragraph is dedicated to just that. You can sleep for now.

I didn’t want to write about this topic, but you can’t command your heart. For the last two days, I, like many other Belarusians, have been captured by one huge detective. The whole country sincerely worries about the boy, although the mind has long understood everything (I would like it to be wrong). This is not an attempt to hype on a hot topic. But when a text has been written willy-nilly in the head for the last 48 hours, it is impossible not to release it. Anticipating a lot of questions: yes, he helped the search, transferred money to PSO "Angel".

I tried to abstract as much as possible from conclusions and value judgments. I won't blame anyone. All the coincidences that have happened in the past, are happening now and will happen in the future, are random. I don't have any insiders. None of the versions (except the official one) from this text should be taken into account by law enforcement and other related authorities. I, like all of you, hope for a successful outcome. All my work on this topic consisted in the fact that, armed with a tablet and a reserve of time, I collected information on the Internet, paying special attention to comments, reading even the wildest ones. The result is a list of versions, each of which I will try to diversify. Go!

1. Version aboutofficial: the boy is lost

In favor of the version:

Yes, you look, in the end, where it all happened! On the edge of Belovezhskaya Pushcha! I repeat: BELOVEZHSKAYA FOREST! For a second, one of the largest (if not the largest) relic forest in Europe! All the nonsense about the fact that the boy “couldn’t get lost”, “knew the forest like the back of his hand”, “brought the mushroom pickers out” (I can directly imagine how the boy, instead of the rescuers, runs into the forest to lead the mushroom pickers out). He who cannot swim never drowns. For he does not climb into the water, but sits on the bank, dangling his leg. And only good, experienced swimmers drown. Because self-confident. Even adults get lost in three pines, and this is a child! The video from the scene clearly shows how overgrown the forest is in those places. And the wording “Searched everything within walking distance of the child” does not hold water at all. Who measured it, that reach. He wants to - and 100 kilometers will pass. Adrenaline and stress take their toll. Several traces were found, although it is difficult to say that they definitely belong to Maxim. But on the spot there were many traces of bison, which could frighten the boy and he rushed from them into the thicket.

Against version:

There is no need to even say anything here. Just look at the map.

Despite the fact that the village is surrounded on all sides by forest, it is not that big. Even on Yandex Maps, you can see that there are enough white spots in the forest. Add to this a huge number of paths, clearings, wandering rangers and foresters, camera traps, and so on. Even if the boy just starts walking in one direction, in less than a day he will come into the light of God. They began to look for him practically at once, shouting, signaling, but no answers. According to the volunteers, the forest was encircled over time and combed completely. That is, the boy simply cannot be in the forest, both alive and dead. The only exception is that a child could drown in a swamp - although in this case there should be at least some traces! And why should a child go to the forest at dusk? We add here the testimony of his brother: "He did not go anywhere far alone." How this fits in with "Knew the forest like his own pocket" is still unclear. The purple line on the map from one point to another is only 16 km long. Regarding bison: why did you run not towards the village, along the road along which you came, but into the forest? Did the bison learn tactics and encircle the child, cutting off the path to retreat?

2. Semi-official version: the boy is hiding

In favor of the version:

There were several witnesses who clearly testified: they saw the boy. Alive and healthy. Once he was seen by a mushroom picker literally right after the boy disappeared. Allegedly, he asked him why the boy was walking alone in the forest at such a time, to which the boy, without saying anything, rushed to run away. Then two more times the volunteers said that they saw a boy running in the distance. Each of us knows stories about how children, afraid of what they have done, do not go home. The boy could simply be afraid of punishment, seeing the scale of the search. Again, remember about the traces. Also, places were found in the forest where the boy, presumably, could spend the night. Maxim's friends recalled some secret dugout in the depths of the thicket. The boy may be there. As an offshoot of this version, I put forward the theory that the boy could set off on a journey. Theoretically, even cross the border with Poland.

Against version:

After all, 10 days have passed. You can hide for a day, well, two or three, but not a week and a half. And who saw those witnesses who noticed him? Either fiction, or not discerned. Moreover, in one of the cases of "witness testimony" the boy ran across the road and slipped through the soldiers in chains. I know the opinion of the people about the army, but there are not total (and at the same time deaf-blind) idiots serving. Haven't you seen or heard? Unlikely. The child has absolutely nothing to eat and drink. He has nowhere (most likely) to sleep, and the nights are cold. All the buildings where the child could spend the night are checked - he is not there. It is not very realistic to cross the border - it is guarded from both sides.

3. Criminal version: a crime has been committed

In favor of the version:

It's all pure speculation here. Why did the child throw the bicycle on the ground without even leaning it against the hut (according to fellow villagers and parents, he loved the bicycle very much). What kind of strange broken basket stands next to the hut, where, as if to divert eyes, they threw the first mushrooms with garbage? According to cynologists, the dog's trail is confidently traced by dogs to the track, where it evaporates in an unknown direction. If the child went on the track, then there is absolutely nothing to say that he was lost. Do you think there are a lot of paved roads in those parts and the boy did not know where he was? Nothing was found in the forest at all, that is, literally. None of the crumbs that were found can be exactly related to the boy. They say that in those parts, half of the population earns by poaching, and half by moonshine. The boy could just see something wrong. Or become a victim of chance: at dusk to be hit by a car or shot by mistake with a gun. God forbid, of course. Or be taken out all to the same Poland.

Against version:

The police have been on the scene since the beginning. I believe that all necessary criminological measures were taken at that time. I once saw a search for a missing person. They turn the house and buildings upside down, shake all the witnesses and neighbors, restore the path of the missing. Do not think that this time the police blundered. And any crime leaves traces. Explicit or implicit. Blood, signs of a struggle, pieces of clothing, some other evidence. Nothing was found this time.

4. Conspiracy version: something doesn't fit here

in favor of the version:

The inconsistencies start from the very beginning. When did the boy disappear? Someone says that he warned about mushrooms (older brother), someone says that they did not know anything about mushrooms (mother). Friends also differ in testimony: either the boy called them, but they refused, or they went together, but he went on. Yes, and the story of the mushrooms looks very strange. The boy allegedly went to pick mushrooms at the edge of the forest around 19.00 in the evening. For the sake of the experiment, gentlemen, go outside tonight at 19.00 pm and look at the level of illumination. Next: mushrooms on the edge. While the hut where the bicycle was found is either five hundred or eight hundred meters from the edge of the forest. That is, the child went at night looking into the forest for a kilometer away (this is a lot within the forest) in order to pick mushrooms by touch? Some of the witnesses say: the boy was shy, even stuttered, could be frightened of animals and rush into the thicket. Gentlemen, who is not shy: would you dare to go into the thicket at dusk a kilometer deep? I'll tell you right now - I couldn't. Scary. It is followed by very ambiguous versions. Allegedly, a local village madwoman approached the members of the search party and quietly muttered: “Look, look, you won’t find it anyway.” Someone talks about Maxim's friends who faint during their interrogation by the police, and that one teenager's parents simply do not allow him to be interrogated, insisting that there is no criminal case. Allegedly, someone saw a teenager, one of the acquaintances of the missing boy, who was returning from the forest at night. What he could see there is unclear. There is even talk of some mysterious house that the volunteers tried to enter, but it was locked from the inside. When the door was broken down, no one was in the house. There are so many inconsistencies that the post threatens to turn into a sheet.

Against version:

It is possible that all this is nothing more than hyperbole of our people. All of us from childhood are prone to inventions and fantasies. Moreover, nothing can be checked in the comments at all. People just copy-paste erroneous versions to more and more publics. I don't think it's all that confusing. And seemingly unrealistic versions are simply not covered enough in the press, often people are content with such forums and fragmentary tales of volunteers who visited the place. Tales of crazy houses locked from the inside (well, who in their right mind would break the door of a house where the curtain just swayed on the window?), Nightly adventures of children seem even more unreal than the mysterious disappearance itself.

5. Military version: we have the same exercises

In favor of the version:

All this can be nothing more than an exercise in the interaction of civil society and various services. According to rumors, no one saw either the boy's parents or his brother. Journalists do not communicate with them, where they are really unclear. It is possible that there simply was no disappearance. Rumors of this kind were once confirmed in Russia. And, by the way, remember that very girl from Mexico, who allegedly fell under a collapsed building and whom they tried to get out of the rubble for days. As a result, the girl turned out to be a fiction created to distract the people from trouble. A completely wild version, also inspired by the exercises: the boy accidentally saw a reconnaissance group of fighters from some foreign state, which was returning after observing the exercises. No one is left alive during such meetings, and the bodies are carefully hidden. Moreover, near the border with Poland, through which the fighters could pass.

Against version:

I do not believe that the state would go for this. It's too much. It was possible to come up with some other way to gain search experience. Thermal imagers, helicopters, the army, equipment - all this is money. The fact that he was killed by enemy saboteurs is also unbelievable. It's all very incredible. The option that all this is invented to distract people from something important does not work either. Nothing important has happened in the country yet.

Perhaps this should end. I tried to process all the possible versions that I found in the open spaces of the bynet and state it in an accessible language. Hope I got something. The picture, of course, is incomplete, but gives a general idea.

Who disappeared on Saturday, September 16th. All the days after the disappearance of the boy, volunteers who wanted to help came to the village of Novy Dvor in the Grodno region. A week after his disappearance, a general meeting of all search and rescue teams of Belarus was announced. They staged the largest search operation in the country. But the child has yet to be found.

On Saturday, September 23, more than two thousand people took part in the search for the child. Headquarters were deployed in the small and previously quiet Novy Dvor, aircraft equipment appeared, and field kitchens began to work.

In the morning, the stadium near the local school is crowded and noisy. It's cold and damp outside - it rained last night. People in bright vests are not yet very organized in the lines. The volunteers were divided into groups. Each has its own area, which today needs to be combed once again. By this time, the area around the village had already been surveyed several times.

In addition to volunteers, helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations take part in the search, which periodically fly around the forest.

Volunteers are patiently waiting. All the talk here, of course, is about the missing boy and the technological side of the search. Volunteers tell how they walked through the wet forest, how they went to the swamp and got wet through.

We barely got warm in the evening, - the girls say near the makeshift kitchen.

Despite the fact that the general gathering was scheduled for 9 am, after an hour and a half the stadium is still crowded. The groups are still waiting for the command to enter the forest.

You see, it is very difficult to organize such a large number of people. Such a search operation has never been carried out in Belarus, - explains the girl who registers the volunteers.

According to her, on Saturday morning, more than 600 people were already on the lists. By lunchtime, that figure had risen to a thousand.

And people keep coming and going,” she says.

At the stadium, the main Christina Kruk. She clearly distributes commands and constantly keeps in touch with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police.

x1, x2, x3. Where did you go? Do you know where to go? Do you have radios? Not? We'll find it now, - the coordinator is trying to divide the volunteers into groups.

Christina is the forest search coordinator. She has undergone special training and knows how to organize everything here and not get confused in all groups, - says the commander of the search and rescue squad "Angel" Sergey Kovgan.

Christina, meanwhile, begins to send groups into the woods. With volunteers, rescuers, policemen and foresters leave to search.

Representatives of the forestry, police or the Ministry of Emergency Situations have been added to these groups for coordination and communication with the headquarters. At the moment they are in the forest. People are arriving, the number of participants is constantly increasing, - says the first deputy head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, a police colonel Alexander Shastaylo.

The military is also involved in the search. In the afternoon, several army buses arrived at Novy Dvor. In general, what is happening in this village is new not only for volunteers, but also for the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police: there have never been such search and rescue operations in Belarus.

Of course, everything is going, probably not quite the way we would like. We arrived last night, at night they didn’t let us in to search, and now here we are standing near the forest, and we can’t all go there: we are waiting for instructions from the headquarters, but they are still not there. Maybe they would have already found him, - one of the volunteers languishes in anticipation Hope.

The woman came from Pruzhany. She tells how in the evening, in order to do at least something, she could not stand it and drove a car through abandoned farms. But unauthorized searches ended in vain. She is worried that, most likely, she will not take part in a full-scale search.

I need to go home soon. My child is waiting for me, - Nadezhda explains.

Nadezhda came to search from Pruzhany

Volunteers stretched for almost three and a half kilometers. The group, which includes the girl, stands on the outskirts of the forest. People have been placed, but no one is allowed into the Pushcha yet. They are nervous, silent, then they begin to discuss what is happening.

There are miles of people here, look. It would be faster to go to the forest already, and not waste time - the daylight hours are short, but we won’t go to the array ourselves without a team, people say.

Many came here on the first impulse to help.

Some simply did not calculate their strength. Yesterday they came out of the forest and just fell on the edge, barely reached the stadium. The search is very difficult, says one of the volunteers.

Another group is sent from the stadium to the forest, in which they recorded Innu from Minsk. The girl has been participating in search operations together with the Angel squad for a long time. In search of Maxim came immediately.

Inna came in search from Minsk

You know, I got fired from my job because of the search. I did not have time to get to Minsk. Worked in logistics. I spoke with the authorities, warned and asked for understanding. She promised to work in two shifts. At work, they knew about my volunteering, treated with understanding, but in the end it happened, - says Inna and, as if reassuring either us or herself, she adds that everything will be fine. - Now the main thing is the boy, and I will definitely find a new job.

Among the volunteers there are a lot of representatives of automobile clubs, whose members know how to navigate in the forest.

Dima has been here for the fourth day, and we arrived only yesterday. We spent the night with the locals, - says Alyona.

The girl brought two dogs with her, there was simply no one to leave them at home with. Not only are these dogs not search dogs, at this stage it is already pointless to involve them in the operation. the fact is that during this time a lot of people have visited the forest, and it is unlikely that animals will take the trail.

Many volunteers came to Novy Dvor a few days ago. Those who wish are accommodated for the night at the school, someone is "taken apart" by local residents. The bulk of the volunteers stay here for some time. They say until the boy is found.

Our hostess fed us breakfast and even heated the bathhouse. For which many thanks to her. In general, the locals are very friendly and sympathetic to what is happening. They come to the headquarters and ask how to help, but here everything is already organized, - the girls say in a makeshift kitchen right under the open sky.

In a few days, an impressive supply of food was formed here. They say that it is no longer necessary to carry food, but there are not enough rubber boots and raincoats.

In fact, there are two field kitchens for volunteers in the town: one was organized by the volunteers of the Angel search and rescue team, the other by the Red Cross.

Volunteers of the "Red Cross" set up their camp near the building of the village council. Here, too, they will feed you with hot food, if necessary, they will provide first aid and offer tea or coffee. The rescuers have their own field kitchen. The headquarters of the authorities is located on the outskirts of the village. Large tents are deployed here, there are special equipment, helicopters and drones.

In searches, we use two of our drones, and one was provided to us by the Academy of Sciences, - says the deputy head of the Grodno UOMChS Sergey Leonov.- As for the study of the area, we have worked out all possible routes for a child of this age. We are combing (and not for the first time) all the settlements, roads and forests through which a person can pass. We analyze all traces found in the forest together with the police. Today we focused on two settlements that are located near Novy Dvor.

Now about 140 rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are involved in the search, there are also two mobile groups that work according to the given coordinates and try to find Maxim with the help of a thermal imager. It helps to find a person where it is difficult to reach.

It looks like this: a mobile group flies to a certain point, rescuers examine the area, descend, study a certain area and then move on.

At lunchtime, information came that they had found a hut with the child's things. The stadium is alive. But it turned out that what was found had nothing to do with the lost boy.

Maxim's father and brother, together with everyone else, have been in the forest for the eighth day. Psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations work with parents. Local residents also joined the ranks of volunteers.

Igor Sergeevich came from Svisloch with his comrades. He explains that he could not stay away, and the forest in the vicinity at one time proceeded far and wide.