Witness claims Anna Tsomartova lookalike in Azerbaijan wants to return to Russia

The Tsomartov couple from Rostov, who have been searching for their eldest daughter Anna for over a year and a half, are receiving help from various countries. After returning from Dubai, two individuals from Azerbaijan and Turkey contacted Russian consulates. Both reported seeing girls resembling Anna. The investigator is checking both versions. Diana Tsomartova told a 161.RU correspondent how concerned people have helped. Anna Tsomartova will be searched for in the UAE, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.

Anna Tsomartova is a student at the Rostov Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and a native of North Ossetia. She arrived on 10 February 2024 in Kaspiysk for the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts Thai boxing championship. After the competitions, Tsomartova left the Ali Aliyev Sports Palace and went for a walk along the embankment, where she wandered onto the territory of an FSB sanatorium. She stayed there for 40 minutes, then disappeared without a trace. Her body was not found in the water. Relatives are sure that Anna was abducted. A criminal case was initiated, which remained in Dagestan for the first eight months. During this time, law enforcement found no leads. Anna«s family eventually succeeded in having the case transferred to the capital, and now they hope for an objective investigation. There are 12 volumes. For their daughter»s return, the parents announced a reward of five million rubles (approximately $50,000 at current rates). In March 2024, Anna was declared an international fugitive. After a year and a half, nothing is known about Anna.

«She had a woman«s bag and a suitcase»

The mother of the athlete who disappeared a year and a half ago in Kaspiysk flew to Dubai in September. In the Emirates, she contacted the Russian consulate and asked for help. After Diana returned home, she received information from Azerbaijan. Vusal Farzaliyev asked for the missing student«s mother»s phone number in a Telegram channel dedicated to the search for Anna. He claimed to have seen the missing athlete in Baku and even spoken with her.

— I contacted him. He said he saw a girl very similar to Anya in Baku on 20 Yanvar Street near a supermarket. This was on 29 August around 23:00. He said she had a woman«s bag and a suitcase. According to him, the girl was upset, unbalanced, and very frightened, — the missing athlete»s mother said. — He said she approached him when he was chatting with a friend about the State Duma. Allegedly, she asked if they worked there. He said he started asking what she needed, and the girl said that «she has a problem — she wants to return to Russia».

The Azerbaijani citizen assured Diana that he offered her help with accommodation, but she refused. In the end, he left her his phone number. Diana explained that Farzaliyev noticed — the girl had an ordinary button phone. He did not photograph the girl because he did not know the story about Anna«s disappearance.

— He said that in the conversation, the girl explained she was staying in a hotel. After the dialogue, she got on a Baku Bus route bus and left, — Diana Tsomartova said. — Then he said he didn«t know about Anya and only when scrolling through TikTok in the evening did he see information about our daughter.

Diana Tsomartova immediately asked the man to contact the police as a witness and explained that she could not do this herself from Russia in another country. Farzaliyev did not immediately understand that this was an important step, after which the investigator could conduct a check. Diana explained to him what steps needed to be taken. He did not want to get involved with the police. But after lengthy conversations, Vusal Farzaliyev still contacted law enforcement agencies and the Russian consulate in Azerbaijan.

— He wrote an appeal to the Russian consulate in Azerbaijan. They replied that they would contact him soon and asked for my phone number as Anya«s mother, — Diana Tsomartova said. — If it works out, of course, that»s good. The verification is intensifying in all directions. The investigator is checking all versions.

«Was at a souvenir market»

Anna«s mother was also contacted by a Russian named Mikhail, who was vacationing in Turkey. He told the Tsomartovs that he also saw a girl very similar to Anya in the resort village of Oludeniz in Turkey on the morning of 1 September. The girl was at a souvenir market located on Carsi Cad Street. Mikhail explained that he also did not have time to take a photo, so he did not immediately bother Anya»s mother, but later he was very worried and contacted her.

— My wife and I were walking through this market, and not far from us, Anya passed by with a guy. She was wearing a gray T-shirt and black shorts, dark hair that was loose, — Mikhail told Diana.

The tourist did not immediately write to Anna«s mother. He explained this by saying that Diana was at the Russian consulate in Dubai at the time, so he did not want to disturb her. But then he still contacted the Tsomartovs and asked how he could help in this situation. He sent the Tsomartovs a screenshot of the map and the point on the market where he saw the girl, very similar, in his words, to Anya.

— I explained what needed to be done: contact the police, write a statement, write to the consulate. At first, not everything worked out. In parallel, I spread the information through our Telegram channel and contacted people who are currently in Oludeniz, — Diana said. — The police recommended that Mikhail contact Interpol and the Russian consulate in Turkey. I called the Interpol hotline. They explained how to proceed. Further, the central apparatus of the Russian Investigative Committee, where our case is being processed, began to control all processes and verify. Everything is happening at an official level. I fully trust the investigator; he knows his job and does not miss anything. He conducts checks on incoming information from all sides and personally controls everything.

The Tsomartovs received a response from the Russian General Consulate in Antalya. Interpol will handle the search for the girl.

— The General Consulate has sent a request to the Turkish side asking for assistance in establishing the whereabouts of the Russian citizen you indicated, — the agency«s response states.

Diana asks everyone who meets Anya in the future to still try to take a photo. The investigation follows up on almost every report, but with a photo, the search will go faster. The search for Rostov athlete Anna Tsomartova has already extended beyond Russia. Anna«s family also hopes for results from the search in Dubai.

— So, she will be searched for in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the UAE. I can say that people«s help in spreading the word is undeniable. There has never been a search on such a scale, — Diana Tsomartova said.

Recall that concerned Russians, who have been following the story of the missing Anna Tsomartova for a year and a half, organized a video flash mob and called on the athlete to respond. Many, like Anna«s family, suggested that she sees all the information about herself. They came to this conclusion after new facts emerged about Anna Tsomartova»s disappearance in the broadcast of the program «Malahov». Videos on the Rostov woman«s phone indicate that the athlete was at the place from which she disappeared three days before she went missing, last caught on surveillance cameras.