STAVROPOL. May 29 (Interfax) - Special military operation veteran Zaur Gurtsiyev died in an explosion that occurred near an apartment house on Chekhov Street in Stavropol last night, Stavropol Territory Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Telegram.
All lines of investigation are being pursued, including a terrorist attack involving the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The territorial branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said earlier that the police received information about the bodies of two men presumably killed in an explosion and found near an apartment building on Chekhov Street in Stavropol. A criminal case was opened on counts of killing two persons by socially dangerous means and illegal procurement and possession of explosive devices.
"There is no visible damage to the apartment building's exterior," yet a number of cars parked nearby are damaged, Stavropol Mayor Ivan Ulyanchenko said on Telegram.
The police told Interfax that one of the two men found near the apartment building was carrying a grenade, which exploded. Official sources have been unavailable for comment.
According to Stavropol city administration's website, Gurtsiyev became first deputy head of the city administration on September 23, 2024. He was a career officer of the Russian Defense Ministry and head of the Air Operations Command Center.
Gurtsiyev was born in Vladikavkaz in 1990. He graduated from the Russian Defense Ministry's Budenny Academy in St. Petersburg in 2012. He served with the Russian military since 2007 and was decorated with a Courage Order, a medal of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland of the 1st and 2nd degrees, a Surovov Medal, and a Zhukov Medal.