Ukrainian Armenian businessman Arayik Amirkhanyan, who is wanted in Ukraine for fraud, has been charged in Russia with involvement in the murder of former member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, Illia Kyva,  a source familiar with the investigation told RIA Novosti.

Amirkhanyan is charged under Articles 105 and 222 of the Criminal Code of Russia; that is, murder and illegal trafficking of weapons, the source added. Investigators believe that he had provided information about Kyva to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Earlier it was reported that the Moscow Regional Court had ordered the arrest of Amirkhanyan in connection with the aforesaid murder case. In addition, in early summer he was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine for bribing a bailiff. The court had found that the businessman had transferred money twice to remove the seizure from his company's accounts. In August, the appeals court had upheld the verdict.

Illia Kyva, who was accused of treason and several other charges in Ukraine, was found dead on December 6, 2023 in Suponevo village of Moscow Region, and a murder case was opened. According to investigation, an unidentified person had shot the politician in the evening at the park of a summer cottage village, and he had died on the spot. Later, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, had stated that Kyva was killed "during a special operation conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine."

Arayik Amirkhanyan's companies had signed road construction contracts in Ukraine using state funds. In 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine put him on the wanted list for large-scale fraud. In 2021, the media, citing a source, had reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had stripped Arayik Amirkhanyan of Ukrainian citizenship due to his Armenian citizenship.