A criminal case has been initiated by the Investigative Committee of Russia following the alleged kidnapping of blogger Areg Shchepikhin from Moscow’s Yaroslavsky railway station. The incident, which occurred on June 3, prompted a swift response from law enforcement and sparked widespread attention on social media.

The Investigative Committee confirmed on June 4 that they had received and reviewed materials regarding unlawful actions against a man near the railway station. Based on this review, a procedural decision was made to open a criminal case and begin a full investigation.

Several individuals involved in the incident have been detained and taken to the Moscow unit of the Investigative Committee. Authorities plan to detain them further as the investigation progresses. Mobile devices and a car seized from the scene are currently being examined by forensic experts from the Moscow Investigative Committee of Russia.

Videos circulating online show men in suits carrying Shchepikhin out of the Yaroslavsky railway station, holding him by his arms and legs, and placing him into the trunk of a black car with a flashing light. In the video, Shchepikhin can be heard urging eyewitnesses to contact the police, claiming that the individuals were not law enforcement officers.

Initially, transport police responded to the video by launching an investigation into the alleged illegal actions. TASS reported that the police were investigating a potential kidnapping.

However, the Minister of National Policy of the Chechen Republic, Akhmed Dudaev, stated that Shchepikhin was not kidnapped but detained as part of an investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic. Dudaev claimed that the investigation concerns the blogger’s alleged insults to religious feelings, actions aimed at humiliating the dignity of a group of persons based on nationality, calls for ethnic cleansing, extremist views, and statements about the intention to rape children.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia later clarified that Moscow police detained six participants in the events at the Yaroslavsky railway station for investigation on the evening of June 3.