The Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case in response to the kidnapping of businessman Areg Shchepikhin at the Yaroslavsky railway station. The incident occurred when several men in suits seized the blogger, forcing him into the trunk of a black Mercedes GLS 500 equipped with flashing lights and executive license plates.

Law enforcement officers detained six individuals on June 3 in connection with the kidnapping and took them to the Moscow-Yaroslavskaya station of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for investigation. All those involved have been transferred to the Moscow unit of the Investigative Committee and will soon be formally detained under Article 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

The Investigative Committee is currently examining seized mobile devices and the car with the participation of forensic scientists. A series of investigative actions are underway to determine all the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping. The specific article under which the criminal case was opened has not been disclosed by the Investigative Committee.

According to reports, one of the individuals involved has a prior criminal record for intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Video footage circulating online shows several men grabbing a man at a fast-food outlet, carrying him out of the station, and eventually forcing him into the trunk of a foreign car. Shchepikhin’s mother identified him in the video. She spoke with him shortly before the kidnapping and noticed nothing unusual in his behavior.

Following the incident, Akhmed Dudaev, Minister of the Chechen Republic, stated that the event was a detention carried out by law enforcement officers, not a kidnapping. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also commented on the situation.