Krikoryants, a correspondent for the Moscow-based weekly Expresskhronika in the Chechen city of Grozny, was murdered in his apartment by unknown assailants. After opening machine-gun fire on Krikoryants through the door of his apartment, the killers broke in, shot him several times in the head, and cut his throat. His colleagues fear that he was targeted because of his reporting on alleged Chechen government corruption in oil trading.