Shchepikhin Areg Samvelovich

In Moscow, in the evening of June 3, 2025, near the Yaroslavsky railway station, several men, whom witnesses described as "people of Caucasian appearance, forcibly put Areg Shepekhov into the trunk of a black Mercedes with flashing lights and "government" license plates AMR. The video shows him shouting: "This is not the police!", but passersby did not intervene. Media reported that representatives of Chechnya took Schepikhina away. It is claimed that a car with Chechen license plates often accompanies Saidakhmed Eldarbiyev - a man believed to be close to Ramzan Kadyrov's cousin. 2 hours after the kidnapping, the car was stopped on the Kiev highway. Shepekhina was no longer inside. After that, additional police units were called to the scene, but the Mercedes with the 'security forces' simply left the scene of the incident. Later, the six kidnappers were taken to the police station. After some time, they were released again. The Chechen authorities called the kidnapping of Shepekhin a "detention" and reported that Chechen security forces "are interacting with Moscow's relevant agencies." "The Minister of the Chechen Republic for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information Ahmed Dudayev stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya is conducting a check against Shepekhin under the article on 'insulting the feelings of believers' and 'on the fact of actions aimed at humiliating the dignity of a group of persons on the grounds of nationality and religion.'", 5. On June 4, 2025, Arega Shchipikhin was detained and taken for questioning at the Investigative Committee. A criminal case was opened against him on charges of inciting hatred or enmity and public calls for extremist activity. The reason for the criminal prosecution was a video posted on YouTube on June 2, 2025, in which, according to the investigation, Shipikhin called for convincing the Russian authorities to expel Muslims "to the Caucasus" and "Jews" from Russia, since, according to his claim, the people chose the path of Christianity. He also expressed insults against Chechens and Dagestanis." On 6 June 2025, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow granted the prosecution's motion and remanded the man in custody.