Convicted Russian paedophile freed after receiving award for military service in Ukraine

A convicted Russian paedophile has reportedly been freed after receiving an award for his military service in Ukraine, news outlet MSK1 reported on Monday.

Ilya Belostotsky, a former children’s TV show director convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 2022, revealed that he had been given an award “for saving lives” while serving as a medic in an assault squad since leaving prison to fight in Ukraine last autumn.

Belostotsky shared in a post to VK that he had received the award by presidential decree, which legally “released [him] from punishment” and wiped clean his criminal record. No official body has confirmed Belostotsky’s release.

Belostotsky was sentenced to 14 years in prison in July 2022, but his sentence was later reduced to 6.5 years.

Belostotsky said that he was leaving to join the Russian army in Ukraine last autumn, saying he wanted to give his mother and his family “the opportunity to be proud of him again”.

A law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin granting combatants immunity for crimes such as murder, theft, and rape, has come into effect in March despite a rise in crimes committed by demobbed Russian soldiers.