An occupier who organized the shooting and beating of Russian soldiers at the front will be tried in Moscow
The trial has begun in Moscow of Pavel Gudochkin, a former soldier in the 272nd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, who went to war against Ukraine after serving time in prison. He and other soldiers are accused of murder, assault, extortion, and other crimes against their subordinates.
The case is being heard by the 235th Moscow Garrison Military Court.
In total, the case involves 46 counts.
Two accomplices of 38-year-old Gudochkin, known by the call sign “Boets” (“Fighter”), have already been sentenced: Lieutenant Gennady Kazakov (“Yermak”) and Alexander Ovcharov. Two other defendants are Vitaly Kozlov and Alexander Tonilin (“Toni”).
Kazakov, Ovcharov, Kozlov, and Tonilin pleaded guilty and testified against one another. According to the investigation, more than 300 Russian servicemen may have fallen victim to the so-called “zeroers.”
According to the Russian investigation, an organized criminal group was formed within the assault units of the 272nd Regiment, which operated from 2023 to 2025 during combat operations in the Kupiansk sector.
According to law enforcement officials, Gennady Kazakov played a leading role in the group; his case involves 62 separate incidents.
Investigators attribute the role of direct perpetrator of the crimes to Pavlo Gudochkin, while other suspects, according to law enforcement, held subordinate positions.
The group’s members, according to the investigation, extorted money from soldiers who wanted to avoid participating in assaults, receive medical care, or take leave.
Those who refused to pay were beaten and intimidated. According to the investigation, some servicemen may have been “eliminated”—that is, killed—in particular to cover up the extortion.
Thus, the case could become one of the largest known prosecutions involving crimes committed by Russian military personnel against their own subordinates during the war against Ukraine.
This is reported by Russian media.
Earlier, the Office of the Prosecutor General filed an indictment with the court against two members of the so-called “DNR Ministry of State Security”—the former head of the counterterrorism department and an investigator.
Ukrainian law enforcement officials have charged a former guard at the illegal “Izolyatsia” prison in Donetsk. He is accused of involvement in the torture of civilians who were illegally detained in the occupation prison.
The British broadcaster BBC has published an investigation into three former employees of illegal prisons in the occupied territories of Ukraine who are suspected of involvement in the torture of Ukrainian citizens. According to the journalists, following the alleged crimes, they are currently in Russia.
