Russian soldier given suspended sentence over stealing €32,000 of compensation money from fellow soldier who received it after being injured in Ukraine

The city of Ulan-Ude military court, in Russia’s Buryatia region, has given a three-year-long suspended sentence to a Russian soldier Damdin Dashiyev for stealing 2 million rubles (€32,000) from his fellow soldier, who had received it as compensation from the government after being injured on duty in Ukraine. Media outlet Tayga.Info was the first to report on the court’s decision.

Several servicemen, Dashiyev among them, were drinking in a bar in the city of Ulan-Ude in the early hours of 10 July. Some time before, one of the soldiers, last name Pakhalov, received monetary compensation in the amount of 3 million rubles (€48,000) after getting injured while taking part in the war in Ukraine. Pakhalov arrived in the bar with 2 million rubles in cash, which was in his backpack, but according to Pakhalov, he did not let anyone know about the money. Later on, when he left the bar, he forgot the backpack.

According to the court sentence, published on the website of the court, Dashiyev picked up the backpack forgotten by Pakhalov. When he found the money inside, he decided to spend it.

“After that, [Dashiyev] started passing his time idly both in Buryatia and the Zabaykalsky region; he spent 1.8 million rubles (€28,800) of the stolen money,” the message published on the website of the court states. Dashiyev was detained five days after the theft, and he “handed the police the remaining 200,000 rubles (€3,200)”.

Dashiyev was found guilty of grand theft, however, due to him pleading guilty and returning the stolen money to Pakhalov, he was given a suspended sentence and a 50,000 rubles (€800) fine. Dashiyev’s participation in the “special military operation” and positive references were deemed a mitigating circumstance.

According to media outlet IStories’ investigation, Russian courts consider participation in the “special military operation” to be a mitigating circumstance when imposing punishment on servicemen that committed crimes.