Stole, drank - set free

Editorial “Layout” December 25, 2023 |

How pardoned Wagnerites commit crimes again, but do not always return to prison

In six months, the Wagner PMC recruited at least 50 thousand prisoners from Russian colonies, said Yevgeny Prigozhin. Recruitment for the “K” i project began in the summer of 2022 and stopped by February 2023. Of the fifty thousand prisoners, about 10 thousand died, and the remaining 40 thousand were released.

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The first group of those pardoned completed their contract with the PMC and went home in January 2023. And already in March, the first news appeared about new crimes committed by pardoned Wagnerites. Yevgeny Prigozhin said in June of this year that ex-prisoners who had returned to Russia had by that time committed 83 crimes.

Since then, the media have repeatedly written about high-profile murders and rapes committed by ex-prisoners in Russia who returned from Ukraine. According to the calculations of “Verstka”, from such publications it is known about at least 32 crimes of pardoned Wagnerites in Russia and one in unrecognized South Ossetia, almost all of which are either murders or rape .

In addition, “Layout” found in the court file one and a half hundred criminal cases in which Wagnerites who were pardoned after participating in the war in Ukraine were convicted in 2023 or are still being tried. Among them: thefts and robberies, murders and causing grievous bodily harm, drug use and distribution, attacks on government officials, traffic violations and others.

Some criminal cases contain up to eight crimes, ten pardoned are tried on two or three criminal cases, and one is tried to be convicted on six at once. As follows from this sample, former criminals often find themselves free again after receiving a fine, mandatory or forced labor, or a suspended sentence. The exceptions are mainly cases where crimes result in human casualties. Although this condition does not always apply.

At the same time, it is obvious that the number of crimes of the pardoned Wagnerites is much greater. Judging by official data, they try not to advertise such cases - in press releases, security forces often do not report the participation of criminals in the war in Ukraine or past convictions . And in published court decisions they may not write about the presidential pardon of repeat offenders, only calling them “without a criminal record”, “legally not convicted” or indicating the presence of unknown state awards.

“I spent all the money I earned in the service with friends”

More than half of the criminal cases discovered by VERSTKA against pardoned fighters of the Wagner PMC turned out to be thefts, robberies and robberies. In total, we found 82 such criminal cases, and some of them contain several episodes. Among the stolen items: money, food, phones, bicycles, walk-behind tractors. Moreover, the pardoned Wagnerites steal not only from women and children, but also from their own fellow soldiers.

For example, Mikhail Shilaev stole 1 million rubles in salary from a colleague with whom he was returning home on the Novorossiysk-Moscow train, and Andrei Poluden took a wallet containing 2,800 rubles from a woman on the street of Rostov-on-Don. Another Wagnerite, Ivan Kirsanov, on his way to a Kaluga pharmacy, “needing money,” demanded 100 rubles from a 16-year-old schoolboy. He referred to the lack of money, then Kirsanov grabbed him by the hair and hit him in the face, but the teenager was able to escape and ran into the school, where the teacher called the police. Kirsanov’s sister told the court that he “wasted all the money he earned in the service with friends” and began using alcohol and drugs. The man was sentenced to two years of forced labor.

Another minor victim of the Wagnerite was a child from Novocheboksarsk. Grandma went to the store and left him with her phone on the bench at Pyaterochka so he could play. Soon Denis Odintsov, who had been pardoned by the president, approached him. The man asked the child for a phone to call and left with the device. Later, Odintsov drank and then asked his neighbor’s phone to “call.” As a result, both smartphones ended up in a pawn shop. Odintsov was previously convicted of theft, hijacking and grievous bodily harm resulting in death. For another crime, he was sentenced to 10 months in a maximum security colony.

Among those newly convicted was the first “graduate” of the “K” project, 34-year-old Anatoly Salmin from the Leningrad region. The man managed to commit two crimes after returning from Ukraine . In May, he broke the window of an apartment in a neighboring building, climbed into it and stole manicure accessories worth 30 thousand rubles. The St. Petersburg Ministry of Internal Affairs reported this, although it did not indicate the identity and pardon of the criminal.

For the theft of manicures, Salmin, as a “non-convicted” member of the “SVO”, received 200 hours of compulsory work, but was released from punishment due to detention. Salmin's second criminal case for theft from a bank account continues to be considered in court.

But the pardoned Ivan Shabunin from Kungur managed to commit six thefts, and as a result he was convicted in three criminal cases in October , November and December 2023. The court did not publish the verdicts.

But the most “effective” was Viktor Khaitov from the Rostov region. In the summer of 2022, the Shakhty City Court convicted him for the tenth time for theft and sentenced him to 2 years and 10 months in a maximum security colony, taking him into custody in the courtroom. But a year later, as a “member of the Northern Military District” and a holder of the medal “For Courage,” the same court fined him for hooliganism.

From September to December, the court received five criminal cases against Khaitov for theft, hijacking, and illegal possession of drugs and weapons. Another of his theft cases is in court in Rostov-on-Don. In all cases, the proceedings were suspended because the defendant fled.

“On the basis of suddenly arising hostile relations”

In addition to those already known in the media, “Verstka” found other criminal cases about violent crimes of pardoned fighters of the Wagner PMC. These are at least four cases under the article “murder” and another 10 related to causing grievous bodily harm, of which in three cases the victims died.

One of these deaths occurred on August 10, 2023 in the Tambov city hospital named after Archbishop Luke. The suspect, the “unconvicted” Mikhail Razuvaev, was immediately detained. Two days later, the court sent him into custody, noting that he was “a member of the Wagner PMC,” from whom “his criminal record was cleared by an act of pardon,” “ defended the interests of the Russian Federation,” and has a medal “For Courage.” Court hearings in this criminal case continue in Tambov.

According to the court records, 38-year-old Mikhail Razuvaev was convicted at least six times: for theft, theft, intentional infliction of minor bodily harm and intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm dangerous to human life. And in 2019 he received a sentence for rape and violent acts. Court decisions on this category of cases are not published . It is only known that the court has been considering this case since November 2018.

Judging by media publications , the rape occurred in September 2018. A man accosted an unknown woman at a traffic stop and, threatening her with a knife, forced her to go to his home. There he got her drunk and raped her, after which the girl was able to escape. For rape alone, repeat offender Razuvaev received 5 years in prison, but in 2021 he asked for parole. Neither the colony administration nor the court supported his petition.

A court in the Saratov region in December sentenced 36-year-old Andrei Alyapkin to 10 years and 8 months in a maximum security colony; he is now appealing this decision.

Alyapkin “earned” his first article in April 2023. Then he came to visit his friends in a hostel in the city of Marx and began to threaten them with murder. At the same time, he beat his acquaintances with his fists and the handle of an air pistol and fired from it. And a month later, during a drinking party in another hostel, Alyapkin severely beat a 44-year-old man, whom he came to visit. After this, the future Wagnerian went to bed in the same room. Waking up and seeing that his acquaintance had died, Alyapkin ran away.

During the investigation, Alyapkin several times asked to cancel his arrest, citing, among other things, “the presence of state awards.” Court decisions and press releases from investigators do not mention Alyapkin’s participation in hostilities, for which he could receive state awards. But, probably, he fought in the Wagner PMC and received a pardon , since now, according to the court verdict, he had to serve his sentence.

According to the court file, in December 2021, Alyapkin was convicted of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, resulting in the death of the victim through negligence, and was sentenced to 9 years in a maximum security colony. In the summer of 2021, Alyapkin also drank at a friend’s house, and later a 53-year-old man joined them. Soon the owner of the apartment quarreled with him, and Alyapkin decided to beat the new guest.

As a result, the man died due to blunt trauma to the neck, and the criminal ended up in a colony, where he was supposed to remain until 2030. In addition, in 2017 - 2018, Alyapkin was convicted of drunken driving, causing minor bodily harm, threats to kill and robbery.

Also, in September 2023, a court in the Saratov region sentenced 35-year-old Yegor Karpov to 7 years in a maximum security colony for attempted murder. The ruling on this case has not been published. The court's press release states that the man stabbed another patron twice in the chest near a bar in May 2023 "out of sudden hostility." The victim was taken to hospital with massive bleeding and heart damage, but doctors saved him.

The biography of the “unconvicted” Karpov, as it turned out, also includes participation in the war in Ukraine as a “volunteer of the Wagner PMC” and the presence of awards. The same court in 2021 sentenced Yegor Karpov to 10 years of strict regime for grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim. It turned out to be a man whom a drunken Karpov and two friends beat in the entrance because of a girl.

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"Multiple fractures of the body and skull"

According to court records, in 2023 judges considered at least 27 criminal cases of traffic violations against pardoned Wagnerites. In most cases, these are crimes under Article 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - repeated driving while intoxicated. For them, the accused were mostly sentenced to fines, compulsory and forced labor, and short suspended sentences. The most serious punishment from the criminal cases found by “Verstka” was received by Wagnerite Valentin Makogonov from Azov for drunk driving - only 8 months of strict regime.

Before his punishment, he was active in public life, became president of the Rostov women's basketball club and gave lessons in courage in schools. He came to the war in Ukraine from a maximum security colony, where he served a four-year sentence for theft. In addition, he was convicted three times for theft, illegal possession of drugs and weapons.

But in two cases of drunk driving there were also crimes under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - violation of traffic rules and driving a car while drunk and without a license, and with human casualties.

Wagnerist Gennady Doldunov returned to Kalmykia from Ukraine in August 2023 and stopped by to visit his childhood friend Yuri Vaskin. The men drank and then went into town to buy alcohol. There the men drank some more, and after that Doldunov decided to give his friend a ride home. On the highway, he accelerated at 100 km/h, drove onto the side of the road and flew into a tree. Unbelted Vaskin flew out of the car through the windshield, receiving a closed head injury, breaking ribs and a cervical vertebra. Doldunov apologized to his friend and paid for his treatment. As a result, a court in Kalmykia in October dismissed his criminal case “due to the reconciliation of the parties.”

Doldunov came to war from a maximum security colony, where since 2020 he was serving a nine-year sentence for drug possession and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. While drunk, he smashed his neighbor's head with a piece of wood.

Another tragedy caused by a drunken Wagnerian without a license happened in June 2023 in the Irkutsk region. The regional prosecutor's office then only reported a criminal case regarding the collision of a Toyota Camry car with a 9-year-old cyclist in the village of Markova. The suspect, a 30-year-old car driver, was arrested for 2 months for violating traffic rules that resulted in serious harm to human health. Prosecutors did not specify any other details.

But, as follows from the court file, this crime was committed by Roman Krasnoyarov, a “member of the SVO” pardoned by the president, while on vacation. Moreover, he previously had administrative fines and a criminal conviction for drunk driving. The man was taken under arrest because he ignored the investigator’s subpoenas and changed his place of residence.

As a result of the accident, the child received multiple fractures of the body and skull, an open penetrating craniocerebral injury, severe brain contusion and ended up in a third-degree coma, the court ruling says.

A week after his arrest, Krasnoyarov’s criminal offense was reclassified to grave - violation of traffic rules, which through negligence resulted in the death of the victim. Despite this, the man tried to replace the arrest with a milder measure of restraint and was released on August 30. Two months later he was detained again, and is now in custody awaiting trial.

Previously, Roman Krasnoryarov was convicted four times for fraud, embezzlement, drunk driving and grand theft. According to the latest sentence in 2021, he received 2.5 years in a maximum security colony and was supposed to be released in 2024.

Drugs, attacks on police officers and other crimes

Almost the same as traffic violations, drug crimes are also popular among Wagnerites - 23 such cases were found by Vorstka in the court file. In 16 cases, it was illegal possession of drugs, for which they were mostly sentenced to probation or restriction of freedom. One of the most serious punishments for this was received by the “unconvicted” fighter of the Wagner PMC Konstantin Filatov from Kirov - a year in a general regime colony. As it turned out, in 2020, 48-year-old repeat offender Filatov was sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security colony for murdering his parents and stealing 300 thousand rubles from them.

In another six drug cases, there was an attempt at illegal sale on a large scale via the Internet. So far, only the sentences of Ruslan Zakharov from Yaroslavl and Dmitry Sochkalov from Kostroma are known - 5 years in a maximum security colony . Moreover, punishment under their articles provided for from 8 to 15 years and from 10 to 20 years in prison.

The most serious drug-related crime was inducing a minor to use drugs, which caused his death. In April 2023, a 16-year-old schoolgirl died from an overdose in Safonovo. The suspect in this case was 24-year-old pardoned Wagnerite Konstantin Zaikin. The court file could not find the results of the consideration of this criminal case.

The pardoned Wagnerites do not restrain themselves even when communicating with government officials. There are six criminal cases in the court files related to attacks and insults against police officers. Only in half of these cases were the attackers imprisoned: Maxim Bobrov from the Volgograd village of Bykovo received 2 years in prison, Sergei Kapysh from Kemerovo - 3 years , and Ilya Reshilov from the Tyumen village of Vikulovo - 6 years .

Drunken Kapysh was stopped by traffic police officers in May 2023. They drew up reports against him for drunken driving without a license and asked him to go to the department. But the man tried to run away, and then picked up a bottle on the road, broke it and cut the hand of a traffic police officer with a rosette. During a scuffle with a policeman, he tried to hit him in the face with a rosette, and then threatened him: “Get the fuck out of here, I’ll really cut you.” The man then got into his car and drove off and was later detained.

Reshilov first beat and then put a knife to the neck of his partner, holding her by the hair, and told her: “I’ll kill you, whoever helps you.” When he left, the woman called the police. According to her, the pardoned Reshilov had previously repeatedly beaten her, threatened to kill her and said that “he can do anything now,” since he served in the Wagner PMC.

On the same day, the police found Reshilov and asked him to go to the department, but the man started a fight with the police and began to threaten them - they tied him down and handcuffed him. During the trip, the Wagnerian began to fight in the car and hit the detective in the face with his forehead. Already at the department, when he was taken out to smoke in the yard, he tried to strangle the district police officer.

The pardoned Valery Kirilyuk from Kurgan Lebyazhye was more fortunate - he was fined 70 thousand rubles, but due to his detention, he was exempted from paying it. Traffic police officers tried to stop Kirilyuk on the highway, but he ignored them and had to be pursued. When the man was caught up, he began to threaten and insult the police. And then he kicked the traffic inspector in the face, after which he ended up on sick leave. Kirilyuk received a previous conviction for several crimes committed in 2015 - together with his acquaintances, he kidnapped and beat to death a man. For this he was sentenced to 12 years and 1 month in a maximum security colony.

Also in the court files, there were criminal cases of the Wagnerites under other articles: eight hijackings, two intentional injuries of moderate severity, one each of theft of weapons with the use of violence, forgery of documents, threats to kill, hooliganism with the use of weapons, extortion and deliberate arson of someone else's property.

In the latter case, Wagnerian Nikolai Podkopalov from Mednogorsk distinguished himself. While drunk, he poured gasoline and set fire to someone else's garage , but the owners managed to put it out. He explained to investigators that the plot under the garage and the apartment in which he lived had previously been inherited by the brother of Podkopalov’s deceased stepfather. The man was evicted from his home, and he decided to take revenge and burn down the garage, the court ruling says.

As a result, Podkopalov was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months of forced labor. But, as it turned out, the man should now be in prison for a similar crime - in 2022 he was sentenced to 1 year and 7 months in a maximum security colony. Then the repeat offender Podkopalov violated administrative supervision, came to his relative’s garage, doused it with gasoline and set it on fire. This was not indicated in the new court verdict, since Podkopalov’s previous conviction was apparently expunged as a result of the pardon.

The soft morals of Russian courts

The example of Nikolai Podkopalov from Mednogorsk, Orenburg region, clearly shows how attitudes towards ex-prisoners are changing. With a maximum punishment of up to 5 years of forced labor or a colony, for the first time for deliberately arson of someone else's property, the court sentenced him to 1.5 years in prison and sent him to a maximum security colony. After Podkopalov’s participation in the war, he was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for a similar crime, but they were replaced by forced labor for the same period .

From media reports, it is known about at least four sentences to the Wagnerites in 2023; they received from 2 years and 5 months to 11.5 years in prison. Of the 160 criminal cases found by VERSTKA, the details of the sentences are known for 105. Among them, 36 cases are under serious and especially serious articles, 41 are under articles of moderate gravity, 28 are of minor gravity. В большинстве случаев за кражи, грабежи, нарушения ПДД, нападения на представителей власти и хранение наркотиков виновные получили не связанные с лишением свободы наказания: условные сроки, обязательные, принудительные или исправительные работы, штрафы, прекращение уголовных дел в связи с примирением.

Лишь в 12 случаях виновных приговорили к реальному сроку в колонии, причём восемь из них совершили преступления по тяжким и особо тяжким статьям. Но и эти приговоры кажутся не самыми строгими. Например, Владимир Шабакин по статье о незаконном хранении наркотиков в крупном размере получил всего 1,5 года колонии строгого режима. Суд учёл и прошлые судимости помилованного вагнеровца и усмотрел в них опасный рецидив. Наказание по этой статье предусматривает от 3 до 10 лет лишения свободы.

А вот Владимира Ряшенцева Коломенский суд приговорил к 1 году 2 месяцам колонии общего режима за несколько групповых грабежей, кражу и незаконное хранение оружия. Причём, если кража и незаконный оборот оружия относятся к средней тяжести и наказание по ним составляет до 5 лет лишения свободы, то групповой грабёж относится к тяжкой статье и наказывается лишением свободы до 7 лет.

Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov.

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