Human rights activists reported the arrest of the mother of the abducted children in Chechnya.

Security forces in the Nadterechny District detained Belkisa Mintsayeva, who complained to Bastrykin about threats her family received after she returned one of her daughters from Chechnya, who had been taken away by her ex-husband.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on April 9, a video message from a Novosibirsk resident, identifying herself as Belkisa, was published to the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin. In the message, the woman reported threats her family received after she returned her youngest daughter from Chechnya, who had been taken away by her ex-husband. An acquaintance who was present when the girl returned has been arrested for kidnapping, she said.

Lidiya Mikhalchenko, head of the "Motherless Caucasus" project, reported on April 14 on her Facebook page* that 33-year-old Belkisa Mintsayeva had been detained by security forces in the Nadterechny district of Chechnya.

"Belkisa has been in jail in Chechnya for over a day without "There are no grounds for this. Her children were forcibly given to their unemployed father, to a home where they witnessed violence," she wrote.

When the lawyer called the security agency's hotline, "they didn't explain anything about the detentions, but they dutifully asked her for her personal information," the human rights activist noted.

"Belkisa, according to the hotline, is in [the security agency building]... Belkisa should be released, at a minimum, and immediately," the publication stated.

Later, in a comment to her publication, Mikhalchenko added that the security forces weren't answering where Mintsayeva was, or were saying that they didn't have her. "The lawyer was told they would 'send a written response.' It's unclear what's wrong with Belkisa," she noted.

19:03 02.03.2026

Resident A woman in Chechnya was able to reclaim her daughters after a divorce.

Chechnya resident Anna Aladysheva was able to reclaim her children after human rights activists publicized the situation. Previously, she was only allowed to see her children for two hours a month under her ex-husband's supervision.

As a reminder, even a court ruling and bailiff visits do not guarantee that a mother separated from her child in the Caucasus will be able to see him. Six such stories, which have come to light in recent years, are described in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Courts and Customs: How Mothers Are Separated from Their Children in the Caucasus."

Men from the North Caucasus regions often take their children and bring them back to their home countries, from where it is then quite difficult to return them , even if the court rules that the child remain with the mother. The situation is especially difficult, according to human rights activists, in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya.

In the North Caucasus, tradition holds that children should be raised in the father's family. As a result, mothers often find themselves separated from their children after divorcing their husbands and spend years trying to get the opportunity to at least see their children, according to a report from the "Caucasian Knot" "Maria Smelaya is one of the mothers who was separated from her children in the Caucasus".