Belarus KGB raid in Minsk leaves IT worker and officer dead five years on

September 28, 2026 at 08:00 AM2 min

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A KGB raid on a Minsk apartment on September 28, 2021, left IT specialist Andrei Zeltser and KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk dead in a shootout. Maria Uspenskaya, Zeltser's wife, was later charged as an accomplice, declared insane, and sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment. Five years later, her brother Maxim Yurchenko says he has almost no information about her fate.

Key Facts

On September 28, 2021, a KGB raid on an apartment on Yakubovsky Street in Minsk ended in a shootout that killed IT specialist Andrei Zeltser and KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk.
Maria Uspenskaya, Zeltser's wife, was charged as an accomplice in the killing, declared insane, and placed under compulsory psychiatric treatment.
Five years after the raid, Uspenskaya's brother Maxim Yurchenko says he has no news about her condition or whether she can meet relatives.
Lawyer Pavel Sapelko of the Viasna human rights center says the exact wording of the court decision on Uspenskaya's compulsory treatment remains unknown.
In late 2024, the association of former security officers BYPOL released its own investigation suggesting Fedosyuk may have been shot by a colleague, not by Zeltser.

The Raid

Maria Uspenskaya was in the apartment on Yakubovsky Street on September 28, 2021, when KGB officers began storming it. Her husband, IT specialist Andrei Zeltser, and KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk were killed in the exchange of fire. State television channels showed a video of the assault almost immediately after the shootout. The footage indicated that Zeltser opened fire with a hunting rifle as officers began breaking down the door. Journalists and independent experts noted numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in the video.

Uspenskaya's Detention

Uspenskaya was later charged as an accomplice in the killing, declared insane, and sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment. Lawyer Pavel Sapelko of the Viasna human rights center says the exact wording of the court decision remains unknown. According to unconfirmed reports, Uspenskaya was seen in a pre-trial detention center during her treatment. Sapelko says respondents were unanimous that Uspenskaya suffered serious additional hardship compared with others arbitrarily detained. Her brother Maxim Yurchenko believes the authorities wanted to isolate her completely by declaring her insane.

BYPOL Investigation

In late 2024, the association of former security officers BYPOL conducted its own investigation into the shootout. BYPOL suggested that Fedosyuk may have been shot by one of his colleagues, not by Zeltser. Yurchenko believes the security forces came to the apartment because of him. Days earlier he had posted an Instagram video by the Chorny Busel group about a drone attack on an OMON base in Uruchcha. He was registered at the apartment but had lived outside Belarus for many years and last visited in spring 2020.