Interior Ministry confirms that man who seized bank in Moscow surrenders
MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - A man who seized a bank branch in central Moscow on Wednesday has surrendered to police, the Moscow city police department told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The operation has been finished now, and the attacker has surrendered to police," it said.
An Interfax correspondent reported from the scene that the police had removed a cordon around a Citibank outlet on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in central Moscow, and the area has been opened to pedestrians and traffic.
A source with knowledge of the situation had reported earlier that the man who seized the bank had surrendered to security forces. The man gave up a fake explosive device and asked for being treated mildly, the source said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said police acted professionally and promptly in freeing hostages at the Citibank outlet and arresting the man suspected of the attack.
"Police acted professionally and promptly in the operation to free the hostages and arrest the criminal. Thanks," Sobyanin said on Twitter on Wednesday.
A man having a box with wires strapped to his chest entered a Citibank outlet on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street in Moscow on Wednesday evening. He threatened to blow himself up. There were four people in the bank branch at the moment.
Later in the evening, the man freed all hostages one by one.
Preliminary findings indicate that the bank in central Moscow was seized by Aram Petrosyan, a 55-year-old businessman. "He started having problems with his business four years ago, and he has incurred debts," a law enforcement source told Interfax.
Since then, Petrosyan has regularly sent various initiatives regarding support for businessmen to government bodies, the source said. "It looks like, having not received any answer, Petrosyan has decided to get attention by attacking a bank," the source said.
Petrosyan's video appeal to the Russian leadership dated 2011, in which he makes such proposals, is available on the VKontakte social network.
On Wednesday afternoon, Petrosyan posted another video appealing to the Russian president on YouTube, in which he warned that he would "resort to a flagrant and resounding violation of the Russian Criminal Code."
"There is going to be a huge aftermath not only in Russia but also around the world," he said.
Petrosyan said he had been prompted to take this step out of despair, being unable to tell about the problem of bankruptcies of legal entities and individuals.
Petrosyan put forward two demands, i.e. "acknowledge bankruptcy of individuals and legal entities as a disease at the government level" and set up a special institution dealing with bankruptcy problems.
According to the SPARK Interfax database, Petrosyan is the general director and a co-owner of the companies MEMP-UGOL and SEARCO registered in 2009 and 2010, both in the same address in Mozhaisk, the Moscow region. Both companies specialize in producing "other basic organic chemicals not listed in other groups." The latter company has tax debts.
Petrosyan is also listed as the general director and a co-owner of the company OBEREG also registered in Mozhaisk (in 2014), which specializes in retail trade through television, radio, telephone, or the Internet.
Petrosyan was earlier a co-owner and the general director of the company NALIRA specializing in the production of gas generators and devices for distilling, filtering, or purifying liquids and gases, which was removed from the unified state register of legal entities in 2015.
The businessman also founded the company ARP producing wooden articles in 2006 and the company RAZUL engaged in wholesale trade in construction materials in 2007, both registered in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, the Moscow region. Both companies were removed from the unified state register of legal entities in 2011.
