“It’s impossible to look at Maxim’s mother without tears.” Exactly a month has passed since the schoolboy disappeared in Pushcha. “I swam poorly and did not navigate in the forest.” An investigator and a mother talk about the long search for Maxim Markhaluk “I don’t believe in any of the versions”

Neither the initiation of a criminal case nor the wanted notice brought any answer to the question of where the boy is. There is still no news about 11-year-old Maxim, who disappeared in the Grodno region. None. “Valentina’s mother perked up so much when they started saying that they might have seen him in Poland. There was hope, and then even greater disappointment,”- they say in the village.

Let us remind you that Maxim Markhaluk from the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch region, disappeared on the evening of September 16. The boy asked his mother to go for a bike ride at about half past seven in the evening. The brother who goes to pick mushrooms is at the edge of the forest. At eight in the evening, the boy’s mother, Valentina, became worried and began looking for her son. In the forest, near the hut where children usually play, Maxim’s bicycle. After some time, one of the mushroom pickers reported to the volunteers that he allegedly saw a boy in the forest. There are no more traces of Maxim in the Pushcha (clothes, a basket, prints of someone’s footprints - all these finds of volunteers, as it turned out, did not belong to the boy).

“Angel”: we still help with information

The search for Maxim in Belovezhskaya Pushcha has already gone down in history as the largest. In the first two weeks, from 500 to 2,200 people searched for the boy every day - volunteers from all over the country, soldiers, police, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as special equipment - helicopters with thermal imagers, drones... People combed the territory within a radius of 20-25 kilometers, helicopters with We flew thermal imagers even 100 kilometers from the village.

- For our part, we are now helping with information. Our volunteers post up orientation cards in all cities and villages of the country,- says the commander of the AKP “Angel” Sergei Kovgan. “Angel” and “TsentrSpas” coordinated hundreds of volunteers who searched for Maxim for more than two weeks.

- Unfortunately, since Maxim’s disappearance, we have not received any information that the boy was seen or noticed somewhere,- concludes Sergei.

The Investigative Committee is investigating the criminal case, the police continue the search. No information

Meanwhile, police officers and military personnel are still looking for the boy and are going to Novy Dvor. At the beginning of October, even riot police were combing the Pushcha. The Department of Internal Affairs of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee noted that all this time law enforcement officers and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations did not stop searching and considered all possible versions.

- On Saturday, 20 police officers were looking for the boy, today about 100 military personnel from Minsk joined them,- added to the Internal Affairs Directorate.

The Office of the Investigative Committee for the Grodno Region also has no information about the missing Maxim. The criminal case into the missing person has been investigated here since September 26. They also say here that they do not rule out any version, even a criminal one. After reports from the Polish side that a 10-year-old boy was seen 100 kilometers from the border, Maxim was put on the international wanted list. Since October 6, information about him has been on the Interpol website. But for now there is silence.

- The investigation is underway. There is no additional information, we have already made all the statements,- Sergei Shershenevich, official representative of the USC for the Grodno region, dryly told Onliner.by.

Principal of Novodvorskaya Secondary School: “We don’t give up hope. In fact, there is no child"

In Novy Dvor itself, when Maxim’s name is mentioned, they just shrug and sigh. On October 10, the boy had a birthday - he turned 11 years old. Fellow villagers hoped that they would find Maxim by his birthday, but the child is still missing.

- Absolutely no news. Nobody tells us anything. The Investigative Committee works and does not share anything with us,- says Alla Goncharevich, director of the school where Maxim’s mother works. - If my parents knew anything, we would know too. And so... Absolutely nothing. We don't give up hope. In fact, there is no child. But you never know, there are all sorts of fantastic cases. This is not a standard situation. In a simple situation, we had to find him right away at night, or even on Sunday. Well, maximum on the third day. The situation is simply unusual. There have already been such searches that it is impossible to come up with, even think of something. All guesses are already at the level of fantasy. From the experience of books, films and life. Coming up with something new is very difficult.

According to Alla Ivanovna, of course, the mother worries most about her son.

- You pass by Maxim’s mother, she’s at work, you don’t want to say or ask anything. There is nothing to say, and nothing to ask. If she had any information, everyone would already know. So what do you say? It’s simply impossible to stir things up again. After all, every time she again experiences the tragedy. It is clear that the man is thin and exhausted - it is impossible to watch without pain and tears. Remember when there was information about the Polish trace? So she straight up perked up when they said it. And now... Now she has this condition again...

Valentina herself doesn’t really want to talk to journalists.

- What can I say if there is no information,- she explains in a quiet, exhausted voice. - I call, but there is no information...

On the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the VG journalist went on a night search for the missing Maxim Markhaluk and saw the activities of the search teams from the inside.

The boy took refuge in an old house

For four days now, the whole country has been following the search for 11-year-old Maxim, who got lost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on Saturday, September 16. The misfortune of a rural family consolidated the entire Belarusian society - perhaps, in the history of a sovereign country, this is the first time when people drop everything they are doing and rush into the forest as volunteers, and those who cannot, pray for Maxim. They even created a petition on the Internet to oblige the media to make the main news about missing people.

During the days of searching, the boy’s fate became surrounded by rumors and even legends. People retell them in search engine groups. Rescuers check everything, even the most crazy ideas. A grandmother from a neighboring village went to pick mushrooms and heard crying. Another woman witch said that the child was thirsty, he was alive, but his legs hurt. A psychic from abroad, whom people contacted via the Internet, said that the boy would be found on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, another version appeared from a Bulgarian clairvoyant that the boy found refuge in an old house under a roof, next to a road, many dogs and other animals. There is a large puddle of water nearby, Maxim is scared and his arm hurts.

There is no headquarters, no unity, and the village council is closed

A Tuesday afternoon search involving police, foresters and volunteers was unsuccessful. But search and rescue teams do not give up and invite volunteers for night searches. In the group of the search and rescue team “TsentrSpas” we write that we are leaving Grodno and are ready to take two more people with us. Not even five minutes pass when a girl wants to go on a search with us and asks us to wait until she picks up the children from training. We agree to pick her up at Olshanka. 30-year-old Zhanna is a mother of two children. When asked why she is going to the forest for the night, she briefly answers: “My son is 9 years old.” Everything becomes clear.

The 110-kilometer road to Novy Dvor takes almost two hours. Participation in the search is a first for us, but despite our inexperience, we are sure that we will be useful. On the way, we imagine that we will now arrive at the village council, where there will be a search headquarters and clearly organized work, that in a few minutes we will be divided into groups and sent on a search. But the picture looks different...

There is no headquarters, no premises, no lighting. There is no single leader to whom information from the police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the forestry department, schoolchildren and volunteers would flow. The feeling is that everyone who is looking for Maxim is working separately and is not trying to interact with anyone. The village hall is locked, and people are standing in groups in the parking lot. There are a lot of people here dressed in camouflage. The volunteers, on average, look to be about 30. The men smoke cigarettes one after another, drink energy drinks and remain silent. The girls are also silent. Cars drive up to the village council, tired people get out and shrug their shoulders guiltily - nothing.

Other volunteers argue with the search party commanders and rush into the forest. Local residents, some already drunk, suggest going there. The conversation takes place in high tones. The men are not embarrassed by the presence of girls and swear loudly - these days of searching have greatly exhausted people, and their nerves are simply at the limit. We change clothes and talk about our readiness to help.

Guys, let’s wait for our group from the swamp and then we’ll decide,” Christina reassures everyone. During the day, information appeared that footprints had been found near the swamp. The search engines rushed to the place with a thermal imager, but found nothing. Then, in their minibus equipped for searches, the guys from the “Angel” squad illuminated the forest with strong spotlights and tried to identify themselves with noise in the hope that the child would see the light or hear the sound and follow it.

Knock on any house - you will be accepted for the night

We wait impatiently, but then the bus pulls into the village council and exhausted people fall out of the car. It seems that they have not slept for several nights, and spend all this time on their feet. But the search again brought nothing. Commander Sergei Kovgan came out to the volunteers and said that all the rumors and leads were not justified. The commander admits that there are not enough coordinators for the search who could direct people.

“You have nothing to do in the forest at night, you’ll just get lost, and in the morning we’ll have to look for you,” explains Sergei. - Whoever stays overnight and continues the search in the morning should go and rest. Sleep in cars or knock on any house, they will take you in for the night. Those who have work tomorrow and are ready to work now will receive assignments.

We are given fragments of a map of the area, they name the villages and ask us to check all the abandoned buildings, stacks of straw, in short, all those places where the boy could have taken refuge at night.

The high beam of the car picks out a dirt road along which field mice and foxes run across. The forest is getting thicker. The night, although starry, is dark, and, as luck would have it, there is no moon.

The child was found, but lost again?

The first village of Shubichi does not look abandoned: the lights are on in the houses, there are lanterns on the street that are visible from afar. We walk through the village and find nothing. We drive further to the village of Bolshaya Kolonaya, turn off the engine and turn off the headlights. The houses are plunged into darkness.

A flashlight of light catches an abandoned house. The walls had rotted and the roof had fallen to the ground - not a bad place to spend the night! We climb inside, we see straw, but there is no one else. And why would the boy hide if he went to the village. Here, if you knock on any house, they will immediately help you, because the whole country is intensely following the search and waiting for news.

Our night searches in Stasyutichy and Zalesnaya are also fruitless. There is no boy along the stream flowing from Belovezhskaya Pushcha: we assumed that the child should stick to the water, this is his chance of salvation...

We call the “Angel” number 7733, report the results and go to Grodno. On the way home, information appears that the child has been found. We dial the phone number, the woman says that the school said that the child went out to some village at 21.40. This news gives hope until the morning, but on Wednesday neither the police nor the search engines found Maxim. It seems that during these four days the whole village went crazy with grief.

The search for Maxim continues. In search teams, volunteers write about their intentions to come again. Drivers in cars talk about free seats and urge you to join. There is a feeling that this search will never end... They pray for Maxim and believe that they will find him alive.

Maxim's day before his disappearance, investigators say, was "more than usual." The boy walked on the street, met several times with his peers, invited them to the forest to pick mushrooms, and together with a friend he went to the “base”, where he nailed some boards into the hut. The last time his mother saw him was at about 18.15 - the boy was riding along the street near the house on a bicycle, reports TUT.by.

Everything was as always. And then the child disappeared.

The search for him began immediately, that evening, as soon as his mother called the police. Law enforcement officers - police and investigators - arrived at the scene, and a little later the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military began combing the forest. Then volunteers got involved.

“The version with the accident was checked immediately”

Two main versions were immediately put forward: there was an accident with the child (he got lost and is in the forest) and a criminal one, says the deputy head of the Investigative Committee for the Grodno region, Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

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

The search began from the moment he was reported missing. At first, police officers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the military were looking for him. Aviation equipment was also used: a gyroplane (gyrocopter), three helicopters, an airplane and three drones with thermal imagers. Volunteers got involved in the search when the topic had already spread through social networks and the media.

At the same time, a criminal version was being worked out. As part of it, they began to locate people who could be in the area of the theoretical crime scene. Those who had previously been convicted, those who had been released, those who were mentally ill, and those who came to the attention of the police were checked. For example, those who have committed crimes of a sexual nature. First, those who could have been close to the place where the boy disappeared were checked, and later all those who live not only in the Grodno region, but throughout the entire territory of Belarus.

“More than five thousand people have now 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 have been in the area where the boy disappeared. We did not receive 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 this, we also check private subversions.

- For example?

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

Here, too, no important information was obtained.

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

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

- Why was the case opened only ten days after the boy’s disappearance?

A criminal case regarding the unknown disappearance of a person is initiated 10 days after the application is received, if search activities have not brought any results. This is the law. But in fact, the date the case was opened does not mean anything: investigators, along with police officers, began carrying out operational search activities immediately. It doesn’t 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 criminal investigation now? Is the search for the boy still ongoing and does it make sense?

Search activities have not been stopped. Of course, they are not carried out as actively as before, but this is solely due to weather conditions. Police officers, military personnel and operational officers of the criminal investigation department of the Internal Affairs Directorate periodically travel to 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 site. Periodically, approximately once a month, meetings are held on site, during which we sum up interim results of what has been done and what still needs to be done. The criminal case is under control in the Central Office of the Investigative Committee, and the progress of the search is under the personal control of the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

Maxim was afraid of animals, swam poorly and did not know his way around

At the same time, they were working on a non-criminal version, says Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

Taking into account that the boy was lost in the forest, then first of all we checked the swamps and nearby bodies of water with the help of divers.

Of course, we would really like to believe that the boy is alive, but all the experts with whom we spoke 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 a child lay down under a tree and fell asleep, then there is a high probability that he could develop pneumonia with the corresponding consequences.

Brown indicates the squares where police officers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military worked, yellow indicates volunteers. Photo: Katerina Gordeeva, TUT.BY

We also considered the possibility that he might have been afraid of some animal. Here on the map the habitat of those animals that are found in the nearby forests is shown. 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. There were times when he got lost, he was also afraid of animals and was a poor swimmer. The boy almost drowned in 2016 - his friends pulled him out of the pond.

It can be assumed that he, in a state of passion after being frightened, could go out to the swamp. In that area there are swamps and swamp areas three or more meters deep. They checked everything they could. Even hard-to-reach areas were explored - as far as our capabilities were sufficient.

- Only police officers, Investigative Committee and Ministry of Emergency Situations worked in the swampy area, or also volunteers?

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 boy’s disappearance. It was important not to miss any details. A professional's view is needed here. I can assure you that throughout the entire distance of his possible route, we explored every centimeter of land.

“We all walked 200 square kilometers together. Probably only with the exception of the bottom of the swamps"

We even exceeded the scientifically proven capabilities of an 11-year-old child: even if he wanted to run away, he would not be able to run such a long distance as was examined.

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

This is not the first time a person has disappeared when volunteers have been involved in the search. But most of the time we find people in the first few days or weeks. Here it turned out differently. The boy was not found, time passes, people began to come to the Pushcha in groups. The volunteers did not interfere and, naturally, they could not trample on 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 to search for Maxim.

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

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

We worked on many private versions. And, of course, they listened to psychics. We have accumulated three volumes of information that was shared by concerned citizens (one volume is approximately 250 sheets. - Note TUT.BY).

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

We responded to every such message. For example, we receive 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 anything. Yes, I talked to the lady, but I only invited my parents, if they were interested, to talk to her. We find the lady. We ask where the information comes from. She replies that she had an appointment with a psychic on personal issues and at the same time asked about Maxim. “And by the way the psychic rolled her eyes, I decided that she knew something,” says the woman. And there were many similar calls. We have worked on each of them and will continue to work if we receive any new information. Psychics definitely don’t harm us, but if they helped - and I personally don’t know of a single case where a clairvoyant helped solve a crime - they would have been working for us a long time ago.

- What were the most exotic versions that investigators had to check?

The most exotic ones have already been covered in the media. Probably with the exception of aliens.
For example, there was a version that the boy was “disassembled for organs” somewhere in Lodz. We interacted with our Polish colleagues on it. We sent them an international order, and the local police examined those institutions where Maxim could allegedly be located. They talked to doctors. The version has not been confirmed. Just like the story about the Polish driver. We also worked closely with Polish law enforcement officers on this issue.

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

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

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

Belarusian tactics and methods of conducting operational search and investigative measures to find missing persons are among the most advanced in Europe, investigators say. “If someone goes missing there, they look for him in 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 Novy Dvor, shrouded in fog and snow, lives its quiet and measured life. The village, where volunteers and searchers from all over Belarus gathered in September, has 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 is not inclined towards any of them: “I don’t want to believe in any of the versions and am waiting for my son to come home.”

Valentina is silent for a long time. We are standing on the porch of the house. A woman is getting ready for work. She, as before, works at a local school as a technician and came 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 were not only in the forest all that time, but also came to me, supported me, and talked.

- Do you have anyone to talk to now?

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

Valentina says that she knows and even read comments in thematic groups on searching for a boy on social networks. He says that some of the remarks make it offensive when they, the parents, begin to be blamed for the disappearance of the child.

If they knew how we are going through...

- 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 a lot of psychics in the first days after Maxim disappeared, but now none of them come to us.

- What do you think about the disappearance of your son? Which version is better for you?

I don't think anything. I don't believe in any of the versions. There were so many of them, and so many things they came up with! By the way, Maxim didn’t know the forest well, as many here said. So, just this edge,” Mom points towards the forest, which comes close to the two-story houses. - I just believe that he will return. He will walk along this road out of the forest 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, at the street, at the yard, and I miss him very much. I wait for him every day. For all these experiences, my father (husband - approx. TUT.BY) and I have been on medication all this time.

Valentina speaks quietly and looks tired. Out of some confusion I ask:

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

How will I leave? What if the child comes back?..

In Belovezhskaya Pushcha they have been searching for the missing ten-year-old Maxim Markhaluk for the thirteenth day. Volunteers and rescuers have combed hundreds of hectares of forest and examined vast areas of swamps, but have not yet found any new traces.

Volunteers are looking for traces of Maxim

At about 11 a.m., the headquarters near the village council is practically empty. There are two volunteer girls and a coordinator on the site. After the weekend, the number of volunteers in Novy Dvor decreased significantly. That is why the day before the Red Cross folded its tent and left, promising that it would return as soon as people began to arrive en masse.

Now the headquarters is deserted. The coordinator is responsible for sending everyone on the search and for bringing lunch on time.

Now the “Angel” search and rescue team must take care of preparing lunch itself, and, if necessary, provide medical assistance to those returning from the forest.

On September 27, 46 people gathered for the search. They came from Grodno, Minsk, Brest and even Gomel regions. Three search groups were organized from them.

While combing the forest, people line up in long chains and walk slowly, inspecting the territory.

As in previous days, the guys went to comb the forest to the areas indicated by the headquarters leadership. The task has not changed - you need to look for any signs of the boy’s presence in the forest. Corn cores, corn cobs, mushrooms and suspicious objects.

Each search party receives such a card.

In the forest, everyone must wear bright vests.

“Each group has an experienced coordinator, the rest line up in a chain, go into the forest and follow the commands of the elder,”- explains the principle of work of search groups by a volunteer of the “Angel” detachment Anastasia Saltykova.

Wrapper in the forest - big jamb

If at least someone from the living chain sees something suspicious, they immediately say “stop”. Then the leader of the group should inspect the place. Volunteers say that even buried soil worries them.

“I know that village boys know how to build underground hiding places and dugouts. They are extremely difficult to detect. I always looked closely to see if the moss was raised,”- says volunteer Olga.

A living chain can stretch for a kilometer or more.

While moving, volunteers are reminded to look not only at their feet, but also at the top, and also to look back. After all, you can walk by and not notice something behind a tree or a tall stump. When a group walks through the forest, candy wrappers, water bottles, and cigarette butts must be taken with them.

“If you leave it, it’s a big mistake. This is strictly prohibited. If they are found during a repeated combing of the area, the question will arise as to whose they are. They can become a false trail."- the girl adds.

Mine as deep as a multi-story building

“Tell me, maybe they found the boy Maxim”?- heard from the walkie-talkie. The guys sigh sadly and answer: “I really want to, but not yet.”

It’s almost 16:00, and lunch has just started at headquarters. Volunteers pour soup and make sandwiches.

The search group begins to have lunch not strictly according to schedule, but after it has examined the assigned territory.

“We went out to chew and immediately returned,”- the man quickly explains to someone on the phone. The guys nearby are discussing the trip: “We were working on a military mine. 12 floors down. We dropped to six, but didn’t go further - we realized that there was no point in going deeper.”

The guys look exhausted, they smoke nervously, but they ask headquarters to quickly allocate them a new search square.

Ilya, Egor and Alexander are looking for the child almost around the clock during the week.

“It’s already the seventh or eighth day here. Already confused. We spend the night in the car. We slept for a couple of hours and then went on to look,”- says Ilya, who came from Minsk.

Everyone admits that they won’t be able to sleep peacefully until Maxim is found. In order not to interrupt the search, many took time off or vacation.

How to search in a swamp

At the morning meeting, the headquarters decided that more people now needed to be sent to the swamp. Neither volunteers nor journalists are allowed into such difficult areas.

The swamps in Novy Dvor are such that you can’t do without fishing boots.

These works are performed by experienced rescuers. But a small group of volunteers agreed to show how they explored the swampy area. They have already managed to study the local forests quite well. They admit: during the search, sometimes they had to go into a quagmire.

“The swamp here is such that you can sink up to your chest in the water. And this is three kilometers from Novy Dvor,”- says Ilya when we arrived at the point.

Before departure, the guys put on high fishing boots, some - rubber overalls. They say that this is not the most difficult section. Emergency Situations Ministry employees are also exploring more unstable swamps.

Even very close to the road there are deep and swampy places.

Walking through such a forest is really difficult. In one place there is a hummock, and next to it there is water. The group moved no more than 50 meters from the road, and in the swamp they began to encounter places where the water reached an adult’s waist or higher. The guys say: “We are up to our waists, but what about the child? But we believe that Maksimka did not come here.”

Local resident: it’s impossible to get lost here

Meanwhile, the residents of Novy Dvor also do not stand aside and, whenever possible, go into the forest. Some are with the Angel group, and some are on their own.

The question of where Maxim might be is answered differently. But every day there is less and less support for the police version that the boy got lost in the Pushcha. A rumor spread throughout the village that the child could have run away from home and left in an unknown direction.

“I don’t believe that Maxim could have gotten lost in these forests. We checked every meter of forest around the village and found nothing. Don't you think this is strange?- says 22-year-old resident of Novy Dvor Vadim.

The guy has been looking for Maxim since the first day in his free time with volunteers and volunteers. He was one of the first to know about the boy's disappearance. He recalls that then, on September 16, literally in half an hour the whole village rose up to search. Some walked through the forest, others drove around all the roads in cars and motorcycles, and every 100-150 meters they stopped and called the boy.

“We would definitely find him. If Maxim had been in the forest and wanted to respond, he could have gone out to the people. Here, no matter which way you go, you will definitely end up either on a road or in some village. If he had been wandering through the local forests all these 12 days, he would have left long ago or given himself away,” the guy adds.

The boy could have run away

Vadim shows the so-called base, near which the boy’s bicycle and a basket of mushrooms were found on the first day of his disappearance. A base is a hut made of boards that serves as a gathering place for village boys. No one can even remember who built it.

Near the hut where Maxim often visited. Vadim shows where Maxim’s bike was found.

According to Vadim, the found basket did not belong to Maxim. This was confirmed by the child's parents.

“She always stood here. On the evening of September 16, my mother was returning from the forest, passed by the hut, and saw her. It was the so-called common fund, the boys collected mushrooms in this basket together, and then handed them over to the procurement point,”- Vadim explains.

He doesn’t know where the kids spent the money. But he gives approximate prices: for three kilograms of chanterelles you can get 12 rubles.

The guy is sure that the most plausible version is that the boy left home on purpose. You need to look for it not in the forest, but in other villages or even cities.

“Angels”: looking for a living boy

To date, the police report only two pieces of evidence. This is Maxim's bicycle, which was standing near a hut in the forest about 800 meters from the village. A little later, a witness was found who, on the evening of September 16, saw Maxim or a boy similar to him in the forest south of Novy Dvor, who was sitting near a tree and then ran away.

“If Maxim had stayed in the forest, they would have found at least something else. The police are looking in the wrong place. I think he reached the road and drove off somewhere,”- two women talk at the post office door. They are also sure that there is no child in the Pushcha.

“Where is he? Who knows? Maybe someone took him away, or maybe he ran away himself,” I hear in response.

The Angel search and rescue team said that they are still considering two main versions - Maxim got lost in the forest or ran away and is hiding.

“We are not considering the criminal version. The Investigative Committee is working in this direction. We are looking for a living boy."- emphasizes the “Angel” volunteer Yuri Azanovich.

According to him, rescue and search activities will continue until the child is found.

Let us remind you that 10-year-old Maxim Markhaluk went into the forest to pick mushrooms on September 16 and has not returned yet. Three days later he was put on a nationwide wanted list. On September 26, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the boy’s disappearance. As of 09:00 September 28, Maxim has not been found.

Maxim Markhalyuk disappeared on September 16, 2017. The search for the boy is still ongoing. No one is going to close the criminal case. Recently, everyone has heard the version that the boy got into an accident. One of the heads of the investigation department in the Grodno region told TUT.BY about how the search for the boy is going, about working with psychics and volunteers, and about the versions that the investigation is considering. And Maxim’s mother, five months after the child’s disappearance, is still waiting for her son to come home.

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

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

“More than five thousand people have now been checked for involvement in the disappearance of the child.”

- For example?

Here, too, no important information was obtained.

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

- Why was the case opened only ten days after the boy’s disappearance?

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

The "base" hut where the child's bicycle was found

Maxim was afraid of animals, swam poorly and did not know his way around

At the same time, they were working on a non-criminal version, says Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

Taking into account that the boy was lost in the forest, then first of all we checked the swamps and nearby bodies of water with the help of divers.

Brown indicates the squares where police officers, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military worked, yellow indicates volunteers

- Only police officers, Investigative Committee and Ministry of Emergency Situations worked in the swampy area, or also volunteers?

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

We even exceeded the scientifically proven capabilities of an 11-year-old child: even if he wanted to run away, he would not be able to run such a long distance as was examined.

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

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

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

We worked on many private versions. And, of course, they listened to psychics. We have accumulated three volumes of information shared by concerned citizens (one volume is approximately 250 sheets).

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

- What were the most exotic versions that investigators had to check?

The most exotic ones have already been covered in the media. Probably with the exception of aliens.
For example, there was a version that the boy was “disassembled for organs” somewhere in Lodz. We interacted with our Polish colleagues on it. We sent them an international order, and the local police examined those institutions where Maxim could allegedly be located. They talked to doctors. The version has not been confirmed. Just like the story about the boy in the Polish driver’s truck. We also worked closely with Polish law enforcement officers on this issue.

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

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

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

Belarusian tactics and methods of conducting operational search and investigative measures to find missing persons are among the most advanced in Europe, investigators say. -If someone disappears there, then they look for him in 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”

Maxim's mother - Valentina

Valentina is silent for a long time. We are standing on the porch of the house. A woman is getting ready for work. She, as before, works at a local school as a technician and came home for lunch.

- Do you have anyone to talk to now?

If they knew how we are going through...

- 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 was buried long ago, killed, buried in the forest, or he was taken somewhere in a car. I don’t even want to hear these versions.”

There were a lot of psychics in the first days after Maxim disappeared, but now none of them come to us.

- What do you think about the disappearance of your son? Which version is better for you?

Valentina speaks quietly and looks tired. Out of some confusion I ask:

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

How will I leave? What if the child comes back?..