Russia’s ‘Werewolf’ serial killer who murdered 86 women hopes to get out of prison early by fighting for Putin against Ukraine

The Russian ‘Warewolf’ serial killer who murdered at least 86 women is hoping to get out of prison early by joining the ranks of Vladimir Putin to fight against Ukraine.

Ex-police officer Mikhail Popkov, 59, confessed in court to further murders and was today sentenced to a further ten years in prison after being convicted of three more murders of women – bringing his confirmed total to 86.

The country’s bloodiest serial killer will serve the new term concurrently with two previous life sentences and an earlier nine-year sentence, but he hopes to get out of prison early by volunteering to fight for Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine.

The sex attacker only targeted women and raped most of his victims between the ages of 18 and 50 before killing them with axes, hammers, knives, screwdrivers and shovels.

A police source believes his actual toll is ‘closer to 200’, and further trials are likely.

But Popkov, known as the ‘Angarsk Maniac’ after his hometown, has volunteered to join the army, which could mean freedom after six months if he survives.

Putin has already recruited thousands of mass murderers and rapists from prisons to strengthen the ranks of his army – along with one Satanist cannibal killer.

They were pardoned for their services, with their criminal records cleared.

Popkov is still waiting for an answer to his plea to go into uniform, and today’s verdict and sentencing could help with that.

His latest convictions relate to the murders in Irkutsk between 1997 and 2003.

Two women, aged 25 and 27, were strangled on the banks of the Angara River in Irkutsk. The body of one was doused with gasoline and set on fire.

The third was a kindergarten teacher, 31, mother of two children.

A relative said: ‘She went to a café… but she didn’t come home in the evening.

‘We looked for her everywhere for two days. And after a while, the body of a woman was found in a freshly dug grave in the cemetery.

‘I went to the morgue for identification – it was definitely her…’

Popkov told the court that this woman was “drunk” when he offered her a ride home. He forced her to have sex in the car before stabbing her at least 40 times and throwing her body out of the car.

Ex-police officer Mikhail Popkov, 59, confessed in court to further murders and was today sentenced to a further ten years in prison after being convicted of three more murders of women – bringing his confirmed total to 86. In the photo: some of Popkov’s victims

Married father-of-one Popkov waged a reign of terror against single women, mainly in Angarsk, between 1992 and 2010, saying he wanted to ‘purge prostitutes’.

During a psychiatric examination, Popkov was diagnosed with homicidal mania, “a condition in which a person has an irrational desire to kill someone,” according to TASS.

Nevertheless, the mass murderer was declared sane.

During the pandemic, he was put to work in prison making face masks.

“There were times when I thought the death penalty was better,” he has said.

Russia has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1996, although there is pressure to return amid the slide toward authoritarianism.

Previously, the condemned were shot in the back of the head by an executioner.

A chilling video from his family archive shows the killer walking towards the camera in the 1990s, holding a knife and reciting a post-war children’s song based on Nazi prisoners of war attacking locals.

‘I will hit you. I’m going to hit you. Now it’s your turn,” he says with a sinister smile.

Earlier this year, Popkov was asked by Russian state television during his trial: “What is your dream?”

A Ukrainian tank crew member of the 21st Mechanized Brigade stands next to a snow-covered German Leopard 2A5 main battle tank near the front line at an undisclosed location in the Lyman direction of the Donetsk region, on November 21

He replied, “To join the army.”

The smiling mass murderer said: ‘I wouldn’t hesitate to do that (join the war).

‘When I talk about my military registration profession, I think it’s quite in demand at the moment… Although it’s probably more modern these days: radio electronics…

“But even though I’ve been in prison for 10 years, I don’t think it would be that difficult to learn (new skills) quickly.”