Crime wave hits Russia as prisoners freed to fight in Ukraine return home
Russia is suffering a spate of murders by convicts released to fight in Vladimir Putin’s war who then return home to continue their life of crime.
Other fighters have been confused by the brutality of the frontline and kill once they return to their families.
More fighters have been arrested for sexual violence against children.
Platoon commander Alexander Mameyev, 44, who returned home after the war, was held on suspicion of stabbing his wife Ekaterina to death in front of their sons, aged seven and eight.
His children had to be hospitalized in a state of shock.
Volunteer fighter Alexander Mamayev, 44, is suspected of stabbing his wife Ekaterina to death in front of their children (pictured at their wedding)
Sergei Batuyev, 39, who fought in Ukraine and returned in July 2022, strangled his friend Denis Shustov, 41 (pictured right and left, with his family)
Wagner fighter Georgy Siukayev (left), 33, is suspected of murdering Soslan Valyiev, 38, a former convict. Ivan Rossomakhin (right), 28, a Wagner mercenary recruited from the prison where he was serving a sentence for murder, killed his village neighbor Yulia Buiskykh, 85
Private Sergei Batuyev, 39, a father of three, was detained and accused of strangling his friend Denis Shustov, 41, a Chechen war veteran, during a brawl after returning to the Udmurtia region from the war.
The crazed fighter planned to feed his remains to pigs, prosecutors say.
Batuyev is currently on trial and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Wagner private army fighter Ivan Rossomakhin, 28, recruited from the prison where he was serving a sentence for murder, killed his village neighbor Yulia Buiskykh, 85, after being pardoned by Putin after six months at the front.
Another of Wagner’s recruits, Georgy Siukayev, 33, is suspected of murdering Soslan Valyiev, 38, a former convict, less than a month after Putin pardoned him.
Andrei Yakimov, 49, a volunteer combatant, killed his wife Viktoria Yakimova, 47, a secretary, on his way home from the war.
Another notorious case was that of 23-year-old Alexander Ionkin, an injured volunteer, who used a flare gun to cause an inferno at a nightclub in November.
Wagner mercenary and former convict Georgy Siukayev, 33, is suspected of murdering Soslan Valyiev, 38, a resident of South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia
Andrei Yakimov (pictured), 49, a volunteer combatant, killed his wife Viktoria Yakimova, 47, a secretary, on a journey home
Alexander Ionkin, 23, an injured volunteer, used a flare gun to cause an inferno at a nightclub in November
Soldier Stanislav Ionkin, 23, was arrested for firing a flare gun that started a deadly nightclub fire
The fire in Kostromo killed a total of 13 people.
Military Sergei Korshunov was sentenced to eight years in prison after stabbing his friend to death during a drinking session on his return from Putin’s war.
The judge imposed a lenient sentence because the suspect was ‘participant in a special military operation’ in Ukraine.
A 19-year-old soldier Vladislav A is accused of raping a girl, 17, during his first leave from the war.
He was detained in Taganrog.
In the Orlov region, a 36-year-old man who fought for Putin in Ukraine faces up to 20 years in prison after being detained for sexually abusing his stepdaughter, 10, on leave from war.
The woman claimed he became aggressive after returning from the fighting.
Russian soldier Grigory K. was detained and faces jail for asking girls aged 13, 14 and 15 to send him nude photos
Evgenyi K., 31, from Buryatia faces 15 years in prison for ‘using a minor to produce pornographic material’. He asked his girlfriend to send pictures of her 13-year-old daughter
Private Evgenyi K – serving in Ukraine – demanded that his girlfriend Nadezhda, 36, send intimate photos of her underage daughter.
She sent the pictures of the girl, under 14, and now he and the woman are facing legal action.
A contract soldier named Grigory K was detained for using fake ID on social media to demand nude photos of three girls aged 13, 14 and 15.
He “encouraged them into sexual acts” and demanded intimate photos.
A Russian captain Alexei Krylov, 33, shot and killed a taxi driver during an argument over the war.
The 51-year-old driver Roman Gocasari died before the ambulance arrived.
In Tula, a fighter returning home on furlough beat up the owner of a pizzeria who showed no “respect” to one of Putin’s soldiers.