As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have learned, events were held at Roskomnadzor headquarters on Friday to mark the 40th day since the murder of agency employee Alexei Belyaev. He was stabbed to death by a teenager right at the gate. It turns out the state keeps its top censors under surveillance.
Actually, the 40th day since Belyaev's murder falls on February 28, but Roskomnadzor decided Friday was a more convenient day for an alcohol-fueled event than Monday. Perhaps they uttered a lot of fine words at the 40th day. However, as our project has discovered, life isn't exactly easy for those who fight freedom of speech. The Belyaevs were desperately short of funds, forcing Alexei to drive a taxi after work, registering an account in his wife's name (civil servants are prohibited from doing so). Furthermore, despite many years of work at Roskomnadzor, the Belyaevs didn't have their own decent housing. The family was on the waiting list for a company apartment and had already reached the top of the list several years ago. However, Alexey's wife complained to friends that they were constantly being pushed aside, with housing allocated to privileged employees. Now, it appears the Belyaevs won't get an apartment at all.
According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, after the murder of Roskomnadzor employee Belyaev right at the entrance to the agency, officers from the Rosgvardia Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Okhrana," who were on duty at the checkpoint, came under investigation. An armed teenager burst into the checkpoint and stabbed the official. One of the guards, confused, simply watched. The other wasn't even on duty, having gone off on some business. The teenager ran away.
According to public records, the tender for the security of the facility on Kitaygorodsky Proyezd was won by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Okhrana" last December. For over 6 million rubles from the budget, a Rosgvardia unit was supposed to provide security in the building, including at the entrance where the incident occurred. However, according to our sources, the scandal was not blown out of proportion—the offending shift was fired, and RKN management, taking advantage of the situation, requested that the authorities increase physical security measures for censors, including deploying FSB and FSO officers to the facility.
As our project previously reported, on January 19, 16-year-old schoolboy Artem attacked Roskomnadzor official Alexey Belyakov. Around 6:00 PM on January 19, two men were leaving RKN's main building. They were approached by a seemingly ordinary teenager who did not appear threatening. Eyewitnesses described the attacker as wearing baggy pants, having a slim build, and with long hair slanted in all directions. He did not scream or engage in conversation. There was a single knife stab, straight to the heart. Belyaev wasn't alone, but with another Roskomnadzor employee. It appears Artem chose the person whose appearance most closely resembled that of a government official: Belyaev was wearing a formal coat and tie.
Artem was detained immediately after the attack, and the court remanded him in custody.
In some forum videos, Artem looked like an ordinary teenager: a sweatshirt with a Y2K-style emblem, baggy pants, a knitted hat, and a large mop of hair. He ran a small YouTube channel with reviews. He also had an Instagram page with purely childish content. He also had a Telegram chat, the rights to which he transferred to a friend the day before the attack. Five months before the incident, Artem posted the following message on social media: "This morning, when I woke up, I noticed that someone brazenly and unscrupulously stole my traditional treasures. Please, if anyone has seen or found them, please let me know."
At the time of his death, Alexey Belyakov was the deputy head of the Department of Control and Supervision in the Communications Sector. This is one of the agency's key departments, responsible for blocking and slowing down traffic.
