Artemenko Grigory Andreyevich is a Nizhny Novgorod entrepreneur and sports official who has been registered as an individual entrepreneur since March 27, 2019.[1] He became widely known as a participant in the events of May 16, 2021, on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, which formed the basis of the high-profile criminal case against the hand-to-hand combat coach Nikolay Kukushkin.[2]

Business Activity and Sports

The main line of business of the sole proprietorship of Grigory Andreyevich Artemenko is the construction of other civil engineering structures (OKVED 42.99); additional declared activities include the construction of residential and non-residential buildings, road construction, demolition and dismantling of buildings, electrical installation and plumbing work, and several other areas.[1] The business is registered in the Nizhegorodsky District of Nizhny Novgorod, uses the simplified taxation system, and has been included in the register of small and medium-sized businesses as a microenterprise since April 2019.[1] According to the Federal Treasury, the sole proprietorship took part in two government contracts with a total value of about 2.4 million rubles, including one with the Privolzhsky Research Medical University of the Russian Ministry of Health.[1]

Artemenko is the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Hand-to-Hand Combat Federation, registered at 5a Kompozitora Kasyanova Street, Nizhny Novgorod.[1] According to the results of the championship of the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Dynamo All-Russian Physical Culture and Sports Society in hand-to-hand combat, held in March 2011, an athlete named Grigory Artyomenko (born 1987, Candidate Master of Sport) took 5th–6th place in the weight category up to 85 kg, competing for the 3rd Physical Culture Collective.[3]

Participation in the Events of the Kukushkin Case

In the early morning of May 16, 2021, Artemenko, together with his wife, accompanied coach Nikolay Kukushkin and his wife on a walk along Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street. Outside a cafe, a conflict broke out with a group of Rosgvardia officers in civilian clothes; a verbal altercation escalated into a street fight.[2] According to the defense's version of Kukushkin's case, several men attacked the coach and his friend: Artemenko was knocked to the ground and kicked, including a kick to the face, which was captured by a surveillance camera, and the footage was presented to the court.[2] The investigation insisted that Kukushkin's actions were intentional and that there were no grounds for self-defense.[4]

During the fight, Kukushkin used a folding knife: Rosgvardia officer Mikhail Rashoyan received a fatal wound, and two other participants in the conflict were wounded.[2] The coach was charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder of two people. Twice, in the fall of 2022 and in March 2026, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty; the prosecutor's office appealed both verdicts.[4]

Sources

  1. companium.ru — Sole proprietor Artemenko Grigory Andreevich — Nizhny Novgorod — INN 526019741553 — OGRNIP 319527500036865
  2. Kommersant (Volga Region) — In Nizhny Novgorod, a coach who killed a Rosgvardia fighter was acquitted (archive)
  3. dynamo.su — Nizhny Novgorod: hand-to-hand combat (archive)
  4. Open Nizhny — Nizhny Novgorod coach Kukushkin acquitted twice by juries. Why he is on trial — Incidents
  5. prima-inform.ru — SOLE PROPRIETOR ARTEMENKO GRIGORY ANDREEVICH, INN 526019741553, OGRN 319527500036865 — counterparty check.
Materials from articles used (1)

Postponement of the appeal hearing on the acquittal of coach Nikolay Kukushkin (2026)