Two Russian service members detained in Armenia, accused of attacking a Ukrainian man

Two service members from a Russian military base have been detained in the Armenian city of Gyumri, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Armenian service reported, citing Armenia’s Investigative Committee.The detentions followed a complaint by Ukrainian citizen Dmitry Samuelenko, who said the soldiers beat him in Gyumri about a month ago. The reason for the attack is unknown.The service members remain in custody and are charged with assault causing minor bodily injury.This is not the first such incident. In early November, Armenian human rights advocates received a video showing service members from the Russian base in Gyumri humiliating a young man. RFE/RL reported that the victim was also Russian. In the video, one of the soldiers can be heard telling him, “Gyumri is our city.” A criminal case has been opened in connection with the incident. It is unknown whether anyone has been detained in connection with it.Gyumri is home to the main garrison of Russia’s 102nd Military Base — the only Russian military base in Armenia. Its second garrison is in Yerevan.Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russians opposed to the war have repeatedly been abducted in Armenia, taken to the base in Gyumri, and then sent back to Russia.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.