On July 18, the Vsevolozhsk City Court ordered the pretrial detention of 40-year-old Aleksandr Kukharenko and 52-year-old Ivan Ivanov in a murder case in the Leningrad region. The arrest was reported by the regional Investigative Committee’s press service and by the outlet 47news.
According to 47news, in July 2025 the two men killed a native of the Omsk region named Stepan. The outlet says they had been helping him arrange a contract to take part in the war in Ukraine, expecting to gain access to his payments through a bank card.
It is further reported that Stepan had already been serving in the military at that time, but had left his unit without authorization, which meant he was not eligible to receive that money.
“Ivanov and Kukharenko offered, so to speak, to provide participants in the special operation with conditions a little more comfortable than the trenches. For example, they promised jobs as painters or cooks in the kitchen,” 47news said in its account.
Stepan’s dismembered body was found on May 1, 2026, in a ditch in a forest in the Vsevolozhsk district. After the killing, the report says, the defendants left for the settlement of Buranny in the Agapovsky district of the Chelyabinsk region.
47news also reported that dozens of bank cards and mobile SIM cards were found during a search of the men’s premises.
According to Mediazona, Aleksandr Kukharenko was repeatedly convicted in the Bryansk and Oryol regions between 2006 and 2024. The cases involved grievous bodily harm and battery, as well as theft, robbery, and armed robbery. The outlet says his most recent sentence was handed down in 2024 for stealing a bag containing an iPhone, money, and keys from a child riding a scooter.