Lyudmila GLADKAYA, journalist of the publication "SB. Belarus Today" about political prisoners of the Kyiv regime Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich:

“New information has appeared about ethnic Belarusians, citizens of Ukraine Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich, who disappeared in Kyiv. Let me remind you that the brothers disappeared on March 3 after the announcement of a hunt for them by Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Later it became known that they were in the hands of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The Kononovich brothers are alive. This was reported by prisoners released in Kyiv.

Literally a few days after the disappearance, local media reported: “In Kyiv, the security service detained brothers who leaked information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Russian and Belarusian special services.” That's all...

The last thing that then, on March 3, was written to me by the brothers Kononovichs: “We understand that in this situation we are powerless. We are all hostages of nationalist groups that have entrenched themselves in the Ukrainian government… We look at the door and wait for them to come to kill us.” There was a wife and a child...

Since then, silence, no reliable information. Only snippets. After the arrest, some assumed that both were killed in the first days after the disappearance. Beaten to death. Others - that both are in the Detention Facility (SIZO) in Kyiv.

But these are just guesses, no one saw the brothers. No lawyers, no relatives, no one else who could at least inform relatives about this. Employees of the SBU, of course, the grave.

We called the pre-trial detention center in Kyiv and not only. At first, when they heard Russian speech, they hung up the phone in pre-trial detention centers. Then (I don’t remember with what attempt) they answered that they didn’t give any data over the phone.

It would seem, why are lawyers still not allowed? So much time has passed. And because they are afraid. After a long “conversation” with one of the lawyers in the SBU, the defenders refuse to work on this case.

Relatives are also not allowed. But transfers are taken from them. For almost two months, relatives did not even know to whom they were bringing things, products. Hoping that Sasha and Misha are still alive...

Yesterday I managed to get in touch with relatives of the Kononovichs, who, as they say, "fled abroad from the war", so now they can speak more or less freely.

So, only recently the families managed to find out that Sasha and Misha are alive. Yes, alive! This was reported... No, not by employees of the Ukrainian special services, but by people who were imprisoned with their brothers and were released. In addition, there is no connection with the Kononovichs.

- We thought about the worst. Now I know that they are alive, - a relative of the brothers tells me. “They were severely beaten, their ribs were broken. There were not faces, but porridge. They were beaten in the first days, they were not taken to the pre-trial detention center. We wanted them to confess something, so that everyone would sign. They didn’t just thresh them, but to admit some kind of guilt. The guys didn't admit anything... And they continued to be beaten. They couldn't breathe, their ribs were broken... They didn't let the doctor in either, only later, about a month later.

Sasha, my interlocutor says, “is sitting in the best conditions” - four people in the cell:

- Misha has a crowd in his cell ... We ourselves are from Luninets, Brest region, our parents moved to Lutsk (Ukraine). And only Mishin's wife with a child remained in Kyiv, she wears packages, she reports through the employees of the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention center. Well, we help with money ... We were afraid that they might be killed.

It is also known that Sasha is offered bail. However, there is little hope for this, since in Ukraine "on bail" works like this: you give money (bail) - and the person is again taken into custody right in the courtroom, with a new charge.

We will monitor the situation."

Text here: https://www.sb.by/articles/zhivy-.html