KGB accuses ex-chief of Belorus resort in Lithuania of high treason

December 15, BPN. The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) has announced that six months ago it arrested Andrej Kobel, a former chief doctor of Belarusian-controlled health resorts in Lithuania’s Druskininkai and Russia’s Sochi, Belarus 1 reported.

Kobel allegedly collected and shared data on Belarusians who came to the health resorts with a Lithuanian secret service, including information about Alaksandr Łukašenka’s residence in Sochi. Authorities also accuse him of nepotism and high treason.

The state-run television channel said that Kobel had worked at Belorus for 10 years, but did specify how long he allegedly cooperated with the secret service.

Kobel worked in Druskininkai since the early 2000s, while in May 2016 he was already based in Sochi. Both health resorts were controlled at that time by Łukašenka’s Property Management Office, under EU sanctions since 2020.

In 2017, Kobel worked in Minsk overseeing a healthcare upgrade project, which received a loan of $125 million from the World Bank’s lending arm, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), in 2016. In 2020, he was involved in COVID-19 response projects that also received funds from the World Bank.