Interview with missing swimmer's mother on Bosphorus shore
From the age of five, he was like a fish in water; over his sports career, he swam dozens of kilometers and trained dozens of students, and then... went missing during another competition.
Moscow swimmer Nikolai Svechnikov flew to Istanbul in August 2025 to participate in a swim across the Bosphorus, but after the start he vanished without a trace. For four months now, his mother Galina has been writing letters to all authorities—Turkish rescuers, search teams, the Russian embassy in Istanbul—but this has yielded no results.
A mother«s heart is capable of many things: not sleeping at night, waiting with hope for airspace to open for almost two days, all to visit the place where her son was last seen. In the final minutes of 11 December, on her son»s birthday, she found herself on the shore of the Bosphorus, in Kanlıca, where he entered the water with 2,800 athletes.
«Kolya is missing,» Galina sighs and takes a long pause, as if gathering strength. «I want to be with my child here, close to him on this day. I had to wait a very long time, fly for a very long time, and late in the evening I managed to be here.»
A correspondent from MSK1.RU went to meet Galina in Istanbul hoping to find answers. But after the conversation, there were even more questions.
«If he set his mind to something, he would definitely do it»
Nikolai Svechnikov could have celebrated his milestone birthday in the family circle—with his wife Antonina and his one-year-old son, who celebrated his first birthday without his father on 10 December. In fact, that is why Galina did not fly to Istanbul the day before—first she congratulated her grandson, then went straight to the airport.
«We couldn»t leave Leon without a birthday, despite our situation. Parents are usually happy when a child turns one. If Kolya were here, he loved it when things were fun, lively, he would definitely have come up with something,« Galina said, struggling to hold back tears. »There was only a day«s difference between their birthdays. Leon remembers his dad.»
If a mother«s heart wants something, it will definitely go for the goal, despite difficulties, obstacles, and monstrous fatigue. Galina managed, half an hour before 11 December 2025 faded into history, to stand on the shore of the Bosphorus, to look into its black waters that took Nikolai away.
Detached from everything, the mother stood on the shore and peered into the abyss, occasionally brushing away a tear that welled up—she couldn«t cry to her heart»s content, the fatigue of recent months and two sleepless nights had taken their toll. Habit also played a role—to hold on, to be strong. It seems these very qualities were passed from mother to Nikolai.
«You had to know Kolya»s character—if he set his mind to something, he would definitely do it. If you try to talk him out of it, he«ll do it his own way anyway. I could only say: I wouldn»t want you to go there,« Galina regrets and purses her lips tighter.
A mother«s heart is also capable of sensing trouble. Back in the summer, Galina tried to talk her son out of this idea—swimming across the Bosphorus—but Nikolai was adamant.
«We didn»t really want [him to go to these competitions] because we had some not very good premonitions. I didn«t understand why he needed it,» Nikolai«s mother laments. »It«s clear it»s a risk—6.5 kilometers, plus he had a newborn child. He didn«t manage to apply right away—getting into the swim isn»t as simple as it seems. You need to be physically well-prepared, buy tickets to Istanbul, take certain tests. He wanted to prove to himself that he could do it.«
Nikolai did not return from this trip to Istanbul. Only his belongings, which were returned to the family, and his mobile phone—which Galina retrieved from the Turkish police—remain.
«We still have Kolya»s phone there, I«d like to retrieve it and ask what they plan to do next. And at what stage the investigation is now,» Galina Svechnikova says. «Because in Russia, they only recently took our statements, even though this happened on 24 August.»
After Nikolai«s disappearance, everything collapsed: the well-established, happy life of the young family, the athlete»s business. His wife Antonina was left alone, on maternity leave with a baby in her arms and mortgage payments, and the swimming school Svechnikov founded fell apart.
«The school is gone. He had two coaches who now just work for themselves,» Galina explains. «Antonina doesn»t deal with this, and now the swimming school is closed.«
Nikolai«s mother»s face changes when she begins to talk about the powerful support she received from her son«s friends and acquaintances. Including financial support.
«We organized a fundraiser to search for Nikolai, a huge number of people responded. I always knew he had many friends, but that many—only now I realized. Without their help, we simply wouldn»t have survived,« Nikolai»s mother«s voice trembled. »When a father dies, a child receives survivor benefits and can live on some means. But here we can«t do anything—for five years, when a person is missing.»
Galina looks at the Bosphorus and shakes her head—she is worried and trying to understand why her son disappeared. Online, various versions are discussed: health issues, an attempt to avoid conscription for the conflict, a secret family in Istanbul.
«It»s hard to answer, so many different versions come to mind. If we assume he might have felt unwell—we are all human. Despite being physically well-prepared, maybe he was washed up somewhere,« Galina ponders. »Perhaps after an accident he was found, and for some reason it«s being covered up. But we can»t understand why. I think it benefits someone—to keep it quiet.«
The swimmer«s mother finds the assumption that Nikolai survived and doesn»t remember what happened to him most plausible.
«I believe he can return! If for a minute we imagine that he somehow managed to get out of the water... Maybe he was physically injured, lost his memory, and if no one searches for him... Sometimes I»m asked, is there any point? Of course! If something happened to you, and no one searched...« Galina stops short.
She has watched the video shot by the race organizers many times, trying to see the moment her son disappears, but to no avail:
«I watched the video for several days non-stop. I wanted to understand what happened,» Nikolai«s mother said. »He had a distinctive arm—full of tattoos, I only saw him jump, and that«s it. I know for sure there were rescue boats—the footage shows there were many. And there»s even a moment when a swimmer is swimming incorrectly, they direct him. And so the question arises—where is Nikolai? There«s a suspicion that maybe that moment was cut out. Well, a person can»t just evaporate! Even rescuers claim he couldn«t have drowned, otherwise he would have been floating on the water.»
Now, a Turkish lawyer is handling the case of the swimmer«s disappearance. Nikolai Svechnikov»s family has announced a reward for information that could help in the search. A witness has also come forward, but so far he cannot really assist the investigation.
«There was a witness, we met him, but during our communication we realized he wasn»t talking about Kolya. Because he wasn«t a participant in the competition himself and said he saw a guy in swim trunks with a beard. But Kolya was in a wetsuit!» exclaims Galina Svechnikova.
The witness«s version that he swam the wrong way is completely debunked by Nikolai»s mother after she saw the shores of the Bosphorus with her own eyes. Alena—a relative of the Svechnikovs who knows Istanbul well—says the same. In the area where the swimmer allegedly could have come ashore, there is very dense development—villas and high fences all around.
«He couldn»t have gotten out anywhere here. They clearly explained to us that they have yachts there, and the shore is so high that even cameras don«t look there. No one could climb up there. So, he would have swum to the park—you can get out there,» Alena reasons. «When we came to the park, we saw cameras there. They told us these cameras work around the clock, every second. And if someone entered the water, the coast guard would swim over immediately. We realized the version fell apart right before our eyes.»
To find her son, the woman knocks on every door. She also visited the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul, but she couldn«t meet with diplomats right away—due to drone attacks and flight delays, Nikolai Svechnikov»s mother only communicated with the Russian diplomatic mission the day after her arrival. She hopes that through the Russian consulate she will get an appointment with the governor of Istanbul: a diplomat assured her he would help the Russian woman.
«What scares us is that there is no information at all,» Galina sighs. «Well, a person can»t just disappear without a trace! It doesn«t happen like that! There were so many people—three thousand, and he just vanished!»
The competition organizers simply stopped responding to the missing swimmer«s mother and blocked her.
«They don»t answer us. Alena called there to find out something, and they blocked her! No one even called to apologize!« emotions overwhelm Galina. »It makes you think they are hiding something. Our lawyer filed a lawsuit—so far no reaction! The organizers are at fault, and very much so.«
Nikolai«s family announced a large reward of 1 million rubles (approx. $10,000 at current rates), which is a significant sum even by Turkish standards. After this, a medium contacted her, offering to help with the search for free. It should be noted that in Turkey, psychics are not favored, and such services, unlike in Russia, are rare.
«I recently learned about the Turkish medium. We will try everything. He can indicate a supposed location where Nikolai is. We»ll try, maybe we«ll get somewhere. We»re clutching at any straw now,« doubt sounds in Galina»s voice.
She also met with divers who continue to search for Nikolai in the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara.
«The search is still ongoing, but so far it hasn»t yielded any results,« Istanbul diver Nurettin Ünal informed the Russian woman. »I hope we can still do something.«
«He said their dives aren»t deep, 40–60 meters. And if Nikolai is deeper, it will be hard to find him if he«s in the water. He also said the current could have carried him far from Istanbul—for example to Tekirdağ or Çanakkale, and advised us to contact Greece, because it could have even carried him there,» Galina shares. «I liked that the person was moved by our story and said he would help us.»
The woman is upset and, despite everything, wants to go to the end. She understands that the search could end with Nikolai«s incredible return to the family, or with the confirmation of a tragedy.
«We will accept it,» Galina lowers her eyes. «For us now, it is very important to know where our son is. I understand it sounds hard, but we are ready to accept the version of his death. We want to find him—no matter what.»
For now, the swimmer«s mother asks everyone who saw her son to give them the smallest working leads. She laments the authorities, saying she would like more support, not for the scandal to be swept under the rug.
«Please, Turkish authorities, the sports community, and also the Russian Foreign Ministry, don»t let this slide! We really, really want to find our son and don«t want this story to be hushed up as if nothing happened,» Galina Svechnikova noted. «I beg you, do everything possible and impossible to find Nikolai!»
A few days after Galina«s arrival in Istanbul, mediums joined the search for Nikolai. Five psychics from Turkey and Russia pointed to the Anatolian Fortress on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, located two kilometers from the start of the swim.
«Especially for us today, divers together with the chief came by boat to check this area again, a boat is working,» Alena, a relative of Nikolai Svechnikov, told MSK1.RU. «Even in difficult situations, we try to conduct searches. The psychic said there is some tall stone structure. We were surprised that both the Russian and Turkish mediums coincided [in opinions]. I don»t know if it«s true or not. We»ll see.«
All details about the search for Nikolai Svechnikov are collected in a separate story.
