The suspect in the murder of former member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, Illia Kyva, has been detained, reports the Baza Telegram channel.

According to Russian investigators, Arayik Amirkhanyan had passed information about the murder victim's whereabouts to the Security Service of Ukraine. The killer had shot Kyva in the Moscow Region in 2023.

Arayik Amirkhanyan, a former "major contractor" of Ukravtodor (Ukrainian State Agency of Motor Roads), a 44-year-old citizen of Armenia, is suspected of participating in the murder of former Ukrainian MP Illia Kyva.

Amirkhanyan did not even need to be arrested. When investigators investigating Kyva’s murder discovered his trail, they learned that in early May Amirkhanyan had been sent to a pretrial detention center in the Moscow Region on charges of bribery.

According to sources, investigators assume that Amirkhanyan had gained Kyva’s trust, followed him, and then provided information about his whereabouts to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Apparently, it was not difficult for Amirkhanyan to gain Kyva’s trust. In the second half of the 2010s, he had made a big splash in Ukraine. Amirkhanyan was engaged in the road business, and his name often appeared in scandals related to Ukravtodor. In 2021, Amirkhanyan was suspected of embezzling 500 million hryvnia from Ukrainian budget funds, and later President Vladimir Zelenskyy deprived him of Ukrainian citizenship, explaining this by the fact that Amirkhanyan had an Armenian passport, too.

Illia Kyva, who was accused of treason and several other charges in Ukraine, was murdered on December 6, 2023. His body was found lying face down in the snow in the territory of a country club hotel in Suponevo village. The killer had been waiting for his victim in the forest near the country club.