Police investigators questioned members of a prominent far-right nationalist group after their weekend raid on a St. Petersburg apartment ended in a deadly fire, the local news outlet Fontanka reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The group, Russkaya Obshchina (“Russian Community”), claimed its members arrived at the apartment in response to complaints about drug use and saw one of the tenants start the fire.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, launched an investigation into negligent homicide after a man and a woman were killed in the blaze, while a second man was hospitalized in critical condition. No suspects have been named yet.
Fontanka identified the deceased as a 37-year-old man from Armenia and a 24-year-old woman from Sochi. The survivor is the 46-year-old son of the apartment’s owner, who told investigators he had previously sought treatment for drug addiction.
“Neighbors said he was screaming frantically. These [Russkaya Obshchina members] just beat him up, locked him in the bathroom, then began tasing and tear-gassing him,” the man’s mother told Fontanka.
Investigators reportedly questioned five Russkaya Obshchina members and released them as witnesses. Authorities are also considering pressing unlawful entry charges, the outlet said.
Russkaya Obshchina has been described in the press as a vigilante group that patrols for undocumented migrants and operates “in concert with the Russian state.” The group is publicly supported by Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin, according to Fontanka.
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