Mayor Ivan Ulyanchenko has confirmed the death of his first associate bishop, Major Zauru Gurtsyiev, 34, a veteran of full-scale invasions in Russia’s Ukraine, the Moscow Times reports.
Vladimir Vladimir Vladimir Vladimirov, the governor of Stavropol, said Gurtsiyev had died in a “nighttime incident.” State media initially reported that two people were killed in an explosion of a hand-held bullet near a residential area.
“All leads are protected, including the possibility of a terrorist attack hosted by the Ukrainian Nazis,” Vladimirov wrote in Telegram.
Surveillance footage shared by a telegram channel linked to Russian law enforcement appeared to show an explosion after one man approached another near a parking lot. The channel claimed that one of the men in the video was Gurtsiyev, but officials have not commented on the allegations.
Law enforcement officials have launched criminal investigations into murder and trafficking of illegal weapons. Alexander Bastrickin, head of the Russian Board of Inquiry, ordered local officials to report the progress of the investigation.
According to the Time of Heroes website (a state initiative to train war veterans for the role of civilian government), Gurtsiyev oversaw air operations during the 2022 siege of Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city of Russia. His biographies state that he “implemented best practices in missile guidance technology,” improving strike “accuracy and efficiency.”
Born in Vladzikavkaz in 1990, Gurtsiev joined the Russian army in 2007 and graduated from SM Budyonny Military Academy at SM Budyonny Signal Corps in 2012.
Gurtsiyev became Stavropol’s first vice mayor in September 2024.
MNA/