Shooting near Kyiv bitcoin exchange injures two people

On 2 February, in the centre of Kyiv near the cryptocurrency exchange on Vladimirskaya Street, unknown assailants opened fire with an automatic weapon. About this сообщают local media.

According to them, as a result of the incident, Aleksey Seredyuk, a member of one of Ukraine’s radical parties, was wounded — he was struck in the face. Also, данным by Kyiv police, a second person was injured. They were taken to hospital.

Law enforcement sealed off the scene and detained 14 people who took part in the clash.

“Preliminarily, it has been established that between activists and the establishment’s staff a conflict and a fight arose, as a result of which two people were taken to hospital. During the incident, the participants fired several warning shots from weapons. As a result, no one was injured,” the police press service said.

The authorities are establishing the circumstances of the incident and the identities of those detained. A criminal case has been opened under the article “Hooliganism”.

In the media, предположили that nationalists tried to extort money from the exchange, but were met with resistance.

Founding Kuna founder Mikhail Chobanian, in a ForkLog comment, suggested that the incident occurred между двумя крупными обменниками, and nationalist groups could have been drawn into the conflict as “mercenaries”.

ForkLog will continue to monitor the situation.

As reported in April 2021, the Security Service of Ukraine announced the dismantling of a group, allegedly involved in laundering and illegal transfers of funds, including through cryptocurrencies. However a business partner of the suspects said there was police overreach and called the accusations unfounded.

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