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Russian War Vet Who Joined Army From Prison Jailed for Brutal Five-Day Torture of Woman
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A Russian soldier who had previously served in Ukraine was sentenced to 12 years in a high-security prison for the prolonged torture and unlawful detention of a woman in Tuva, according to Sibir.Realii, citing court documents published on December 25, 2025.
In September 2025, the Abakan Garrison Military Court found 53-year-old Mikhail Kazantsev guilty of multiple criminal charges, including unlawful imprisonment, grievous bodily harm, and acts of torture. The incidents occurred in November 2024, shortly after Kazantsev returned from his deployment to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to the case materials, Kazantsev invited a former romantic partner to a rented apartment in Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva. Following alcohol consumption, he accused the woman of infidelity and held her captive for five days, during which he subjected her to repeated acts of violence and humiliation.
Kazantsev was convicted under four articles of the Russian Criminal Code: illegal deprivation of liberty (Article 127, Part 2), torture involving extreme cruelty (Article 117, Part 2), causing grievous bodily harm (Article 111, Part 2), and three counts of causing moderate harm to health (Article 112, Part 2). The court sentenced him to 12 years in a special regime penal colony.
As reported by Sibir.Realii, the assault began on November 24, 2024. Kazantsev locked the apartment and forced the woman to strip, beat her with a crutch (breaking her arm), urinated on her, and left her on a balcony in −20°C temperatures for over an hour.
Over the following days, the abuse escalated. According to court records, he poured boiling water on her, burned her eyelid with a cigarette, forced her to sit on glass bottles, strangled her with a phone charger cord, and shaved her head. He also beat her with a belt buckle, hit her head against a radiator, and shot her with plastic bullets.
The woman eventually escaped on November 29 when Kazantsev left the apartment unlocked while going to a store. She ran to a nearby kindergarten, where the director helped her contact the police.
A medical report confirmed extensive injuries, including second-degree burns, a fractured ulna, stab wounds on her hands, and a closed head injury.
Kazantsev had a lengthy criminal record prior to this conviction. He was previously convicted in 2008 for armed robbery and again in 2011 for inflicting fatal bodily harm, receiving a sentence of 9.5 years. In 2023, he was found guilty of attacking a government official and attempted murder.
Although the sentence from that conviction remains undisclosed, it is believed that he was subsequently recruited into the Russian Armed Forces, likely through a program enlisting convicts for military service.
Earlier reports revealed that Russia deployed convicted murderers, including serial killers, to fight in Ukraine in exchange for early release—some later committed violent crimes after returning home.
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