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Russian Veteran Who Burned Two People Alive Says He Can Still Be “Useful” at the Front
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A military court in Russia’s Yekaterinburg has sentenced a former soldier, Mikhail Molochkov, who fought in Russia’s war in Ukraine, to 18 years in prison for killing two people by setting their shelter on fire, Molochkov said he wanted to go back to war, The Moscow Times reported on December 22.
The court ordered Molochkov to serve the first five years in prison and the remainder in a special-regime penal colony. Molochkov, reacting to the verdict by saying, “I am satisfied,” and told the judge he wanted to go back to war: “I can still be useful, send a few khokhols to the other world, I would be very glad, I can still be useful on the battlefield, I am not afraid.”
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The killing occurred in late June 2024 after Molochkov fled his military unit and traveled across Russia to avoid detention.
Prosecutors said he asked to spend the night in a work trailer where the two victims were drinking, and later set the trailer on fire while they slept and blocked the door, killing both.
In court, Molochkov denied acting with particular cruelty, saying in his final statement: “It just happened spontaneously… There was no cruelty.”
The Moscow Times said Molochkov had multiple prior convictions, including for violent crimes, and signed a contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry after being released from an 11-year sentence in 2023.
Earlier, it was reported that returning Russian soldiers from the war in Ukraine have killed or seriously injured over 1,000 people inside Russia, with courts frequently citing wartime service as a mitigating factor in sentencing.
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