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Russia Honors Soldier Listed on Pedophilia Watchlist as New School Year “Hero”
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On September 2, schools across the Komi Republic will hold lesson events dedicated to Corporal Alexander Vlasenkov, who died in Ukraine and was posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia title by Vladimir Putin, according to The Insider.
Vlasenkov, who was heavily promoted by former Putin bodyguard Alexander Matovnikov, was honored with monuments, plaques, and a school museum. However, investigation details reveal that Vlasenkov was registered on a special police watch list for pedophilia and fled to the front lines to escape law enforcement supervision and debts totaling 900,000 rubles ($12,200).
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Former junior hand-to-hand combat champion Alexander Vlasenkov accumulated significant debts in 2019–2021, including 500,000 rubles ($6,800) in personal loans and nearly 400,000 rubles ($5,400) borrowed using his grandmother’s passport.
He avoided traveling for sports demonstrations due to fears of being detained at airport security checkpoints. Concurrently, police regularly conducted checks on him because he was registered on a special police watch list as a pedophile following an incident during his second year at the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he attempted to assault a 13-year-old teenager before being interrupted by passersby.
To avoid a public scandal, the university administration expelled Vlasenkov, and he avoided imprisonment by completing mandatory military service in the Air Defense Forces.
According to The Insider, After completing his service in 2019, he worked briefly as a youth coach in Irkutsk until local police notified the school administration of his record, forcing him to return to his hometown of Chim. There, he worked as an electrician while occasionally assisting with sports training under the supervision of a local officer.
In early 2022, facing financial hardship, Vlasenkov sought loans from family and his former coach before traveling to Moscow to seek assistance from the International Hand-to-Hand Combat Federation. He met with General Alexander Matovnikov, deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces, who advised him to join the military as a volunteer.
Russian legislation prohibiting individuals suspected of sex crimes involving minors from signing military contracts was not enacted until 2024. Vlasenkov subsequently served as a scout-sniper in the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the Northern Fleet and was killed on September 2, 2022, near the village of Udy in the Kharkiv region.
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Following his death, Matovnikov promoted Vlasenkov’s story through state media and official channels to establish a patriotic narrative. On October 22, 2022, a presidential decree awarded Vlasenkov the Hero of Russia title posthumously, with the award presented to his family by regional officials.
Sources within the presidential administration noted that high-volume award submissions from the Ministry of Defense undergo reduced background checks during active operations, allowing individuals with criminal records or active police files to receive top national honors.
Local authorities subsequently named streets and opened museum displays in Vlasenkov's memory, while state media produced a televised documentary portraying his final actions in combat. The documentary omitted his police record and financial debts, focusing instead on his athletic background and military service, as reported by The Insider.
A similar case involved Andrey Kiyko, a convicted serial killer known as the “Sosnovka Maniac,” signed a military service contract with Russia’s Ministry of Defense despite official claims that prisoners convicted of sexual violence would not be recruited.
Kiyko had been convicted of two murders, multiple sexual assaults, and 11 robberies committed in St. Petersburg between 2004 and 2007, with an additional murder conviction in 2023 extending his sentence to 25 years.
After being wounded in January 2025, he was transferred to a Kronstadt rehabilitation facility, from which he escaped later that year. The Russian Defense Ministry reportedly concealed his disappearance for months before formally notifying police in May 2026, launching a search across the Leningrad region.
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