The Minister of National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Akhmed Dudayev, presented the list of articles of the Russian Criminal Code under which the regional police are investigating Armenian businessman Areg Shchepikhin, who was detained at a Moscow railway station, Kommersant reports.

According to the minister, the aforesaid businessman’s actions may fall under the Russian Criminal Code articles on “revival of Nazism, public calls for extremist activities, incitement to hatred or enmity, rape, and assistance to the enemy in actions directed against the security of the Russian Federation.”

Dudayev claims that the Chechen law enforcement officers who detained Areg Shchepikhin “essentially saved his life, or at least his health.” According to the minister, “hundreds of thousands of Muslims” and other believers “were literally boiling with the desire to quickly bring Shchepikhin to justice” for his statements about religion and different nationalities. Also, Dudayev believes that the arrest itself was carried “without particularly harsh violent actions.”

According to the Baza Telegram channel, Areg Shchepikhin has already been released, and is in a Moscow hostel. It claims that after the arrest, the Armenian businessman was forced to make a video apology and was accused of having ties to Ukraine. Also, Baza posted a photo of Areg Shchepikhin, allegedly taken after his release. In the footage, his face is covered in bruises.

Areg Shchepikhin was kidnapped Tuesday evening at a Moscow railway station. According to footage provided by eyewitnesses, several men in civilian clothes grabbed him and, holding his hands and feet, took him out of the aforesaid railway station building, after which he was shoved into the trunk of a car with flashing lights and license plates associated with the Chechen authorities.

According to the Baza Telegram channel, 20 minutes before his kidnapping, Areg Shchepikhin was demanded to make a video in which he apologizes.

Moscow police had stopped the car in which Shchepikhin was taken, but soon released the alleged kidnappers.

According to the Shot Telegram channel, three of the detainees told the police that they worked for the Russian National Guard.