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Duma Deputy’s Aide Detained After Shots Fired Near Moscow Train Station

An aide to a State Duma lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party was detained on suspicion of firing a gun near a railway ticket office in Moscow, the Ekho Moskvy radio station reported Sunday.

Yakhya Akiyev was detained with another man also allegedly involved in the gunfire at Komsomolskaya Ploshchad in the northeast of the city, the report said.

Komsomolskaya Ploshchad is one of the busiest squares in Moscow — three of the capital’s train stations are located there.

Witnesses who called the police said the men had a “brawl.”

Akiyev, a 50-year-old aide to State Duma deputy Dmitry Savelyev, told police the “shots were fired accidentally, and the brawl never took place at all,” an unidentified law enforcement official was quoted as saying by the tabloid-style LifeNews portal.

Akiyev claimed his friend had pulled out the gun to “show” it to the parliamentary aide, who “accidentally pulled the trigger,” the official was quoted as saying.

Nobody was injured in the incident, LifeNews reported. Police released Akiyev and his friend after questioning, although investigators are still looking into the case.

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