Murder at the Roskomnadzor office in Moscow

The employee responsible for the blocking was killed. A 16-year-old blogger was arrested. State media are silent

In Moscow, 16-year-old teenager Artem A. was arrested on suspicion of murdering a high-ranking Roskomnadzor employee, Alexei Belyaev, whose subordinates were responsible for blocking, the anonymous telegram channel “VChK-OGPU” reported on January 30.

The murder took place on January 19 at the entrance of the main building of the RKN in Kitaygorodsky Proezd. Neither representatives of law enforcement agencies, nor news agencies, nor telegram channels close to the security forces reported this. According to Meduza’s sources, state and pro-government media were advised on the same day not to publish information about the murder of a Roskomnadzor employee.

“VChK-OGPU” claims that immediately after the incident, FSB officers arrived at the Roskomnadzor building and “completely classified all information.” The authors of the telegram channel found out about what happened by chance. They found messages on the Internet from the mother of the accused teenager, Inna A., who tried to find a lawyer for her son online (she later deleted this information).

According to his mother, Artem was accused of murdering Roskomnadzor official Alexei Belyaev. According to investigators, the teenager stabbed Belyaev in the chest as he was leaving the department building. Artem was charged with murder based on political and ideological hatred (clause “l” of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code). Investigators believe that the teenager is “an ardent opponent of the activities of the RKN” and prepared the attack in advance - back in December he came to the main building of the department and walked around.

Belyaev has worked at Roskomnadzor since 2011, the Agency and VChK-OGPU reported, citing leaked data. At the time of the attack, he held the position of deputy head of the department of control and supervision in the field of communications. This is one of the key departments of the RKN, responsible for blocking and slowing down traffic, as well as combating circumvention of restrictions.

In 2017, Belyaev received gratitude from Vladimir Putin for his services in ensuring reliable and uninterrupted communications for the state “Elections” system. Now Belyaev’s passport and TIN have been declared invalid. Moreover, the TIN is invalid from January 19, the date of the probable murder.

Artem A., who was accused of murdering an official, lived in the Moskvorechye-Saburovo area and studied at a local school, writes the Agency. The school confirmed to the Cheka-OGPU that the teenager stopped attending classes. According to a representative of the institution, the boy studied well, but he had no friends.

Artyom’s mother, journalists established, worked as a merchandiser-operator in the logistics center of a large office chain until 2024. The teenager’s parents do not live together: the Agency claims that Artem has a stepfather. “The family probably didn’t live well. In 2020, the teenager’s mother indicated the amount of 47 thousand rubles as her monthly income, it follows from the leaks,” the publication found out.

Artem reportedly ran several pages on social networks and is interested in games and animation. In particular, the Agency and the Cheka-OGPU found the teenager’s YouTube channel, which he started five years ago. There he posted short videos about his life and interests with a cartoon character - the alter ego of the author.

There are currently five videos available on the channel. In total, according to the teenager himself, he published 70 or 90 videos, but some of them had to be deleted “due to the ridiculous situation.” The two still available videos were released before October 2024, gaining 18 and 19 thousand views. The video from August 2025 received 2.7 thousand views, and the latest video, published on December 31, has about 100 views.

In the last video, Artem, through his hero, said that the year for the YouTube channel “was a bad one” and that the videos on it, most likely, would not be released anymore, and if they were, then only “something cool.” “Right now there is no motivation. In general, I don’t want to do anything,” the Agency quotes the teenager.

The publication suggests that the drop in popularity of the teenager's video may be due to the blocking of YouTube. Roskomnadzor began “restricting access” to the service in August 2024. How Artyom himself felt about this is unknown. His mother did not respond to reporters.

"Jellyfish"

Cover photo: Alamy/Vida Press