Translated material
Feast of Death
The investigation is lost in versions of the bloody massacre in the Kuban village
Over the weekend, the first results of the investigation into the unprecedented cruelty of the massacre that occurred on November 5 in the village of Kushchevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, became known. In the private house of a local farmer, where three families gathered to celebrate the holiday, unknown assailants methodically stabbed the owners and all their guests - a total of 12 people. The criminals did not even spare four children, the youngest of whom was only nine months old. After the massacre, the killers, apparently trying to cover their tracks, set fire to the house and disappeared.The investigation was able to restore in general terms the picture of the tragedy, but so far neither the possible motives for such a savage crime nor even the number of killers are really clear. Among the possible ones, a variety of versions were voiced. Since one of the killed was a top manager of a large company from Rostov-on-Don, detectives did not rule out the possibility of robbery or commercial disputes. At the same time, a version of a banal domestic quarrel between one of the guests was also worked out. However, none of these options in any way explains the monstrous cruelty of the criminals who did not spare two young children, who could not be mistaken for “unnecessary” witnesses, since they did not yet know how to speak. So far, investigators have been able to find out that shortly before the house was set on fire nearby, local residents saw certain four men driving away in a red foreign car.
It is not known exactly when the tragedy occurred in the house of 51-year-old farmer Severer Ametov. According to preliminary data, none of the residents of Kushchevskaya noticed anything suspicious either the day before or on November 5 itself. The murder was discovered by firefighters, whom neighbors called after they noticed clouds of smoke above Mr. Ametov’s house. Rescuers put out the fire quite quickly and, upon inspection, found 12 bodies in different rooms - eight adults and four children. At first it was reported that all the people in the house died from fire and poisoning by combustion products. The neighbors said that the day before, guests had come to the farmer for some family celebration, and the version of an accidental fire in such a situation seemed quite likely. However, after a more detailed inspection with the participation of employees of the regional department of the UPC, traces of arson were established in the mansion. Along the way, experts discovered stab wounds on the bodies of ten dead, and two children, as they established, were strangled.
A day later, investigators were able to identify all the dead. They turned out to be Severer Ametov himself, his 48-year-old wife Galina, their 19-year-old daughter-in-law Elena and her nine-month-old daughter Amira; the Ametovs' neighbors are 36-year-old Natalya Kasyanova and her 14-year-old son Pavel; 48-year-old businessman from Rostov-on-Don, Vladimir Mironenko, who arrived the day before to visit the farmer and his relatives - his wife Marina, two daughters, one-year-old Alena and five-year-old Irina, as well as Marina Mironenko’s parents Viktor and Lydia Ignatenko.
As it turned out, Vladimir Mironenko served as financial director of OJSC Aston, one of the largest Russian manufacturers of food products, food ingredients and components for the production of feed. As reported on the company's website, it accounts for about 11% of Russian grain exports. In addition, Aston is the leader in Russian exports of vegetable oils, occupying a third in the consumer segment. A release from the South-West Sberbank of the Russian Federation states that Aston manages a number of companies in Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland and Germany, in addition, it owns several oil extraction plants, a port grain terminal, elevator complexes, a flour mill, a ship repair yard, and dry cargo ships. river-sea class, tankers for transporting vegetable oils and agricultural enterprises for the production of sunflower and grains.
It is with the activities of Mr. Mironenko that investigators primarily link what happened in Kushchevskaya. According to law enforcement agencies, the criminals most likely “targeted” him, and everyone else was killed as extra witnesses. However, it is not yet clear whether this was a commercial showdown or, for example, a robbery, if the killers believed that he could have a large sum or other valuables. However, there was another version. According to a source in the investigation, the killer could have been one of the guests, who allegedly quarreled with the owner of the house during a feast, killed him, and then everyone else present, so as not to leave witnesses. But in any case, what happened in Kushchevskaya looks extremely mysterious from the point of view of how the criminals, even if there really were several of them, managed to cope with eight adults at once. One can only assume that the tragedy took place at night and the criminals killed the victims one by one. But even then it is not clear why they did not spare the babies.
Already yesterday, information appeared that shortly before the fire, a red foreign car was seen in a farmer’s house nearby. According to local residents, there were four men sitting in the car whom they had never seen before. Detectives are now searching for these people.
The investigation of this case, on behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, was taken under control by his deputy in the North Caucasus and Southern Federal Districts, Boris Karnaukhov. He has already visited the site of the tragedy.