Russian Colonel Accused of War Crimes in Ukraine Appointed Deputy Mayor in Samara

A Russian army colonel accused of war crimes during the occupation of Ukrainian city of Irpin has been appointed deputy mayor of the Russian city of Samara, according to RBC-Ukraine, citing Russian media on January 12.

The post was given to Sergey Karasyov, 43, who will oversee support programs for participants in Russia’s war against Ukraine and their families.

Karasyov previously served as deputy commander of Russia’s 98th Airborne Division and, shortly before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, headed the 31st Air Assault Brigade.

In 2023, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine charged Karasyov with war crimes committed during the Russian occupation of Irpin in 2022.

Ukrainian investigators allege that he shot and killed a local civilian who lacked identification documents and brutally assaulted a woman born in 1949, tearing out her hair and knocking out her teeth with a rifle butt, RBC-Ukraine wrote.

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War in Ukraine

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Initially, Ukrainian prosecutors withheld Karasyov’s name and blurred his image. His identity was publicly confirmed in 2025 after The Sunday Times identified him using a screenshot from an interview aired on Russia 24.

RBC-Ukraine notes that the appointment shows Russia’s continued refusal to investigate or punish its military personnel for violence against Ukrainian civilians, and instead signals their promotion into public office.

Previously, it was reported that two Russian servicemen killed seven civilians who had taken shelter in the basement of a residential building in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region.

The incident was reported by the “I Want to Live” project operated by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

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