Abkhaz GPO announces demands of Russian businessman's kidnappers

Maxim Yakovlev, a shareholder of the Kirov Factory, kidnapped a month ago in Abkhazia, has delivered a note to his wife, stating that kidnappers demand a ransom of 200 million roubles for his release, the Abkhazian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has sated today.

According to the GPO, Yakovlev was kidnapped on June 20 from a hotel in the city of Novy Afon, where he lived since early April. Three armed people wearing masks and camouflage, threatening the hotel staff, broke into Yakovlev's room, forced him out and drove him to some unknown place. On the same day, the Gudauta District Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case on robbery and kidnapping for mercenary motives, the GPO has informed.

"On July 12, Maxim's wife was interrogated as a witness and handed over her husband's notes to the investigators, in which he informs that he is being held in the basement; and his kidnappers claim 200 million roubles for his release; he asks to organize the transfer of the money in exchange for his life," says the today's message posted on the GPO's website.

A case on his kidnapping has also been opened in Saint Petersburg.

The businessman himself is a figurant of the criminal case opened in Kyrgyzstan on the application of his former partner, the "Fontanka" reports. Within the framework of the Kyrgyz case, Yakovlev was put on the wanted list by the Interpol.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 19, 2018 at 03:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.