Chechens kidnapped Armenian businessman Areg Shepikhin in the center of Moscow (video)

On the evening of June 3rd, one person was kidnapped in the center of Moscow. Telegram channels "Baza" and "Ostorozhno, novosti" were the first to report this. According to eyewitnesses, several people carried a person at the square near the Yaroslavsky railway station and shoved him into the trunk of a black Mercedes equipped with flashing lights and license plates from the AMR series. In videos from witnesses, several bearded men dressed in tracksuits or black jackets are seen dragging the kidnapped person toward the car; he was shouting "Help!", "Don't!", and "Police!" According to "Baza," the kidnappers were Chechens judging by their accent.

Soon, the identity of the kidnapped person became known—it was Areg Shepikhin (according to various sources, 39 or 40 years old). According to "Ostorozhno, novosti," Shepikhin lives in Khimki and "calls himself a businessman, a hero of Russia, and a top manager." According to information from the Telegram channel, in 2019 he participated in the competition "Russia—Land of Opportunities," and after that began "posting strange messages on social networks." "Baza" emphasizes that Shepikhin constantly posted photos on his social networks with famous people, including Vladimir Medinsky, an assistant to Putin, Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed DPR, and Maria Zakharova, an official representative of the Foreign Ministry.

In addition, according to information from "Baza," Shepikhin repeatedly recorded videos insulting the Chechen people, Allah, and the Quran. His mother told "Baza" that her son began to have a "sharply negative attitude" toward Muslims and Islam because of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to her, Areg did not participate in the war, "but actively followed those events and took the outcome of the war very hard." According to "Ostorozhno, novosti," Shepikhin published another insulting video on June 3. The video "reached Chechen bloggers," who widely distributed it and demanded "the capture and punishment of this man," according to the Telegram channel.

Areg recorded his last video a few minutes before being kidnapped on June 3. In the video, he walks around Yaroslavsky railway station, speaking about bloggers Dmitry Portnyagin and Grigory Avetov, claiming they "have been using drugs for 10–15 years." "In general, this wave of people who held forums like 'Transformation' and 'Business Club 500' and partially maintained some connections with America are the biggest threat to our country," said Shepikhin.

According to "Baza," about one and a half hours after the kidnapping, the black Mercedes was stopped near Kievskoye Highway. Prior to that, there was an attempt to detain it in the Skolkovo area, but it "escaped from the pursuit," the publication writes. However, the location of the kidnapped man remained unknown: according to preliminary data, when the Mercedes was detained, he was no longer in the car.

The TASS agency, citing law enforcement authorities, reported that police are investigating the kidnapping. "The identities of the kidnappers and the reason for the incident are being clarified," said a TASS source. The agency provided no other details.

The car in which Shepikhin was kidnapped was taken back to Yaroslavsky railway station on the morning of June 4, according to Telegram channels "Baza" and "Mash." Investigative actions were conducted there. Later, the Telegram channel "Shot" published a video showing six people being released from the police station. Three of the detained persons informed the police officers that they were active employees of Rosgvardia, the Telegram channel writes. The kidnappers left the police station in the same Mercedes. A reporter’s question about the kidnapped person's whereabouts was left unanswered.

The kidnappers stated they were employees of Rosgvardia, and claimed that the situation was "not a crime, but an operational measure," the "Zvezda" TV channel reported. Rosgvardia itself neither confirmed nor denied this information.

Later, the Minister for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information of the Chechen Republic, Akhmed Dudayev, stated that Shepikhin was "not kidnapped, but detained." According to Dudayev, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic is conducting an investigation under Article 148 of the Criminal Code for "committing public actions aimed at insulting the religious feelings of believers." Dudayev stressed that Shepikhin "openly, repeatedly, and demonstratively called for ethnic cleansing and Nazism, insulted religion and God, and expressed clearly extremist views."

The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that on the evening of June 3, police officers detained six "participants of the incident" at the Yaroslavsky railway station who "caused public dissatisfaction." The department noted that the detainees were taken to the police department at the Moscow-Yaroslavskaya station, and the investigation materials were transferred to investigative bodies. Additionally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced an investigation against a "blogger" who posted "provocative statements against the population of Chechnya" on social networks. The blogger's name was not provided. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the investigation is being conducted by employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Extremism.

"Baza" and "Shot" Telegram channels reported that Shepikhin was free. According to "Baza," he was released around midnight and is staying in a hostel in Moscow. "Baza" wrote that after the kidnapping, Shepikhin was beaten and forced to "repent" in a video and accused of connections with Ukraine. Later, the Telegram channel published a video in which Shepikhin himself described how he was kidnapped in a car with "suspicious plates, fake flashing lights, and in an impudent manner." The footage clearly shows bruises and abrasions on Shepikhin's face. "There was a small conflict before that, I called the police and asked them to come quickly. There should have been a police post at the station or at least some employee nearby, but there was nobody there," he says.

According to Shepikhin, they "didn't severely torture me; they mostly interrogated me." "They were interested if I had contacts with Ukraine or connections with the opposition. They had threatened me on social media for a long time, about a year. And I always tolerated it. People began to call me 'spineless.' Then I couldn’t tolerate it anymore. I responded to both Chechens and Muslims, and they reacted," Shepikhin explained.