 Belarusian officials, including Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mikhail Udovikov, suggested that Zavadsky was abducted either by his colleagues at ORT, including Sheremet, or by members of the local opposition, related to his "pro-Russia" coverage of the Chechen war.On 20 November 2000, independent (non-state) Belarusian media received an anonymous email from a person who identified himself as an officer of the Belarus State Security Committee working on the Zavadsky investigation