In an interview with Sobchak, the "Skopin maniac" said that he "needs to deal" with one of his former prisoners

Is this a threat? Can he be stopped? And why aren't those he raped protected in any way?

On March 22, Ksenia Sobchak released the film "Conversation on Freedom" about Viktor Mokhov, whom the media calls the "Skopin maniac." In 2000, Mokhov kidnapped two girls: 14-year-old Ekaterina Martynova and 17-year-old Elena Samokhina. For about four years, he kept them in a basement, where he regularly raped them. For this, Mokhov served almost 17 years in a penal colony. Soon after his release, he gave an interview to Sobchak, where he said that he "needs to deal" with Elena Samokhina again, since she gave birth to three children from him, but after her release from captivity "she has not given birth anymore." Meduza explains why the "Skopin maniac" is unlikely to face any consequences for this statement.

Viktor Mokhov was released on March 3, 2021. Two days later, he returned to his home in the Ryazan region. And almost three weeks later, Ksenia Sobchak released her film , for which she interviewed the "Skopin maniac" himself.

At the time of publication of this material, the video about Mokhov has received more than two million views and has caused a heated public debate about whether journalists should interview people like the "Skopin maniac" - and if so, how. The quality of Sobchak's conversation with Mokhov is being particularly actively discussed: the host, among other things, found out from the "Skopin maniac" how he forced his prisoners to have sex; how he chose which of them to rape; asked questions about Mokhov's first sexual experience and whether he watches pornography.

"It is our right as journalists to explore the boundaries of good and evil. You cannot understand the nature of evil without entering its territory," Sobchak said even before the barrage of criticism fell upon her.

In the film, the "Skopin maniac" talks about love and shifts the blame onto his prisoners

At the beginning of the interview, Viktor Mokhov admits to Sobchak that he “gets a kick out of” such attention. “I have atoned for my guilt, of course. What now, should I suffer all my life?” he continued. “The girls [Mokhov’s prisoners] are doing well now, and that makes me happy. Everything has worked out for them.” Discussing whether he considers himself a good person, he said: “Well, I stumbled a little, it happens to everyone?”

Justifying his years of sexual abuse of the teenagers he enslaved, Mokhov said he mistook 14-year-old Ekaterina Martynova and 17-year-old Elena Samokhina for "girls of easy virtue" because they got into his car and did not refuse a drink. "I kept them [with me]. Live here, you will be like sex slaves, I will not kill you," Mokhov said.

In addition, in this film, Mokhov's former prisoner Ekaterina Martynova told how she assisted Elena Samokhina in giving birth in the garage. Mokhov himself visited his mother's grave and also stated that after the kidnapping he "fell in love with Martynova." After this, the following dialogue takes place between Sobchak and Mokhov:

“Love is an instinct,” says Mokhov.

— How did you realize you were in love?

— My soul was more inclined towards her.

- How did this love manifest itself? Did you want to let her go?

— I bought her chocolates, took her into the house, and we often went for walks with her.

In an interview with Meduza, Ekaterina Martynova described the first “walk” that Mokhov took her on: “It was almost right after we were kidnapped. He came at night and gave me a clothesline. I thought he was going to strangle me, I was really scared, I started begging him not to do it. In the end, he just tied [my] hand to himself, and we went up to the garage. It was some kind of excessive measure. It was night, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyway, where could I run — I couldn’t see anything around, there were no landmarks. Run so he could catch me and beat me? I didn’t do it. He never took [his second prisoner] Lena out for a walk.”

Sobchak's film also details the sexual relationships between Mokhov and his female prisoners. In particular, the "Skopin maniac" said that he was "not a pervert" in response to Sobchak's question about why he "always had sex with girls in the missionary position." Mokhov also said that after his release he plans to buy a sex doll.

Mokhov told Sobchak that he "needs to deal" with one of the former prisoners. Deputy Oksana Pushkina asked the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Prosecutor General's Office to check his words

Immediately after leaving the colony, Viktor Mokhov told journalists that he "really wants" to meet with his former prisoners to ask for their forgiveness. He stated that he was going to find his children from Elena Samokhina.

The topic of “forgiveness” also comes up in Sobchak’s interview. During the conversation with her, Mokhov recorded a video message to Martynova, where he asked for forgiveness and repeated that he “fell in love with her.” A little later, he added: “I found myself in a bad situation. I couldn’t kill her, I was afraid to let her go. It turns out that I ended up a hostage. And they suffered, and I suffered.”

Sobchak suggested that Martynova watch the video recording of the apology, but the girl refused. Martynova herself has repeatedly stated that she does not want to meet Mokhov after his release. "I am not afraid of him, but it will be very unpleasant for me to run into him. I do not want to see his face, to be on the same territory with him. I have a feeling of disgust towards him," she explained to Meduza.

Nevertheless, after the film was released, Mokhov added the former prisoner as a friend on social networks. "Only a subhuman can allow himself to do this. I believe that the legislation should be completely changed and the criminal's social networks should be controlled. Added as a friend - should be fined and tried," commented Ekaterina Martynova (she had previously said that Mokhov wrote to her on VKontakte from the colony, "introducing himself as a different person").

Reflecting on the fate of the girls he kept in the basement and raped, Mokhov said in a conversation with Sobchak that Elena Samokhina “no longer became a mother after captivity”: “She gave birth to me and is no longer giving birth. I need to take care of her again.”

Samokhina's two children from Mokhov were born during the years when she was in captivity. Mokhov abandoned the children in the entrances of apartment buildings, and they ended up in an orphanage. The third child was stillborn - after the girls were released. Unlike Ekaterina Martynova, Elena Samokhina leads a private life and does not give interviews to journalists.

State Duma deputy Oksana Pushkina asked the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Prosecutor General's Office to check Mokhov's words about his readiness to "take up" one of his former prisoners again. "It is likely that during his entire sentence, the man never realized his guilt and does not repent of what he did. In addition, his statements can be assessed as a direct threat to the girl. Viktor Mokhov's neighbors also fear for the safety of their children," Pushkina added.

The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has already instructed the Ryazan department of the agency to organize a procedural investigation into the interview with the “Skopin maniac.”

Lawyer Yulia Fedotova, in a conversation with Meduza, doubted that law enforcement agencies would regard Mokhov's words as a threat. "If he had said: 'I'll go, I'll come, I'll rape, I'll kill' - then it would be possible. But in this situation, I don't think that the authorities will react in any way," she said, adding that Mokhov's words should rather be interpreted as "everyday stupidity."

Sergei Badamshin, a lawyer for Pravozashchita Otkrytki, told Meduza that in any case, Elena Samokhina herself should contact law enforcement agencies in connection with Mokhov’s statements: “If the threat is real, based on the context, inner conviction, and experience of communicating with the person, the victim has the right to report it. But all of this comes from the person who is being threatened.”

In Russia, victims have no real mechanisms to protect themselves from those who beat and raped them. The only option is to hide

After the release of Ksenia Sobchak's film about the "Skopin maniac", the head of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov and the leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed a legislative ban on criminals convicted under serious articles from giving interviews to reporters. At the same time, another State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin (United Russia) asked the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia Vladimir Kolokoltsev to check Viktor Mokhov's interview and explain whether such conversations could "contribute to an increase in the level of violence in society" and lead to an increase in the number of similar crimes.

Director of the center " No to violence " (an organization that helps people who have faced domestic violence) Anna Rivina in a conversation with Meduza spoke out against such a ban. She pointed out that instead the state should develop a system of protection for victims of violence. Rivina noted that currently in the country there are practically no protective mechanisms to help such citizens.

In the US and most European countries, it is possible to obtain a restraining order that prohibits the abuser from approaching the victim or having contact for a certain period of time. The introduction of such orders in Russia is proposed by supporters and authors of the domestic violence bill (which Oksana Pushkina, who contacted the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Prosecutor General's Office regarding Mokhov's statements, is also fighting for).

Lawyer Yulia Fedotova told Meduza that there is currently no other way for the former prisoners of the "Skopin maniac" to feel completely safe except by moving, despite the surveillance of Mokhov by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Penitentiary Service. "By violating this, he falls under sanctions. There are no other protective mechanisms. Therefore, the girls can only protect themselves by not being in the same territory [where Mokhov lives]," she noted.

Anna Rivina noted that such a problem would not have arisen in principle if the Russian judicial system had been structured differently: “In American practice, a person has 200 life [terms] — and you think: ‘What nonsense, one would have been enough.’ But the case with Katya [Martynova] showed: there were more than 900 rapes [during captivity], but they were [effectively] classified as one. If there had been a cumulative effect, we would not have seen this person free.”

Alexandra Sivtsova

Photo in the announcement: Ksenia Sobchak / YouTube