Kazan- Pavel Pechenkin, who is suspected of perpetrating the recent terrorist attack in the Volgograd railway station, worked as a paramedic in Kazan's emergency service before going missing in mid 2012.
“Pechenkin graduated from a medical school in Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan,
and worked as a paramedic for five years, until mid 2012,” Danil
Khamidullin, an official with the Kazan emergency services, told
Interfax.
There was nothing special about Pechenkin, Khamidullin said. “There
was nothing special about him, he was an ordinary paramedic. He lived
with his parents in Volzhsk, came to Kazan by car to work, worked his
shift and went back home,” the source said.
Khamidullin said he had not noticed any religious affiliations in Pechenkin.
“As a rule, I talk with my subordinates about work-related, medical
issues. No religious issues have ever been discussed in my presence, I
didn’t notice any special affiliation with Islam in him. Yes, he wore a
small beard, but half of my male employees wear moustaches or beards, it
doesn’t mean anything,” Khamidullin said.
Pechenkin became ill in mid 2012 and took sick leave, but never returned to work, Khamidullin said.
“We contacted his relatives, but they said they didn’t who where
Pavel was either. We had to fire him for missing a lot of work,”
Khamidullin said.
A source in the law enforcement agencies earlier told Interfax the
terrorist attack in the Volgograd railway station could have been
carried out by Pavel Pechenkin, a member of the Buynaksk gang group of
Dagestan.
The source said Pechenkin joined Dagestani militants in spring 2012.
Pavel’s relatives went to Dagestan in September and looked for him in
Buynaksk and the Buynaksk district. After a long search, they issued a
video address to their son, who had taken the Muslim name Ansar Ar-rusi,
calling on him to come to reason and come back home. Pechenkin posted a
reply on the Internet, telling his parents he had no intention of
returning.
Definitive information on the suspected suicide bomber can be
obtained after genetic tests. There is information that Pavel’s father
Nikolai Pechenkin provided a blood sample for such a test on December
30.
