In Russia, a lieutenant colonel was sentenced to 21 years for fabricating heroic deeds on the front lines
In Russia, former Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Frolov was sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security prison. According to the publication “Kommersant,” he organized a scheme involving fake combat injuries to obtain government payments and awards, and also filmed staged videos depicting alleged combat successes of the Russian military. The court also stripped him of his military rank and state awards.
The verdict against Frolov was handed down on October 27 by the St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court. The former head of the special operations group of the Russian Army’s 83rd Separate Airborne Assault Brigade is known by the call sign “The Executioner.” As the court established, he created an organized group that, according to the case file, involved more than 30 people. According to the prosecution, its members sought to obtain money from the state budget for fictitious combat merits and injuries.
To do this, the soldiers filmed staged videos designed to look like real combat scenes. In December 2023, they recorded a video purporting to show the detonation of a convoy of military vehicles on the front lines. To do this, they planted explosives along the vehicles’ route in advance and then filmed the explosions. In January 2024, the group created another video. It was intended to show Ukrainian drones attacking Russian soldiers. According to the case file, the participants also staged an explosion that supposedly killed soldiers while they were clearing a weapons cache of mines.
Some of these recordings made their way onto Russian federal television channels. They were presented as true stories about the combat successes of the Russian military. In particular, back in February 2023, one of the TV channels aired a report about an alleged special sniper unit led by “The Executioner.” The report claimed that after being wounded for the seventh time, the officer refused rehabilitation and returned to the front lines.
Soldiers Shot Each Other for Compensation
Another part of the scheme involved faking injuries. According to the case file, soldiers deliberately inflicted injuries on one another and then reported them as having been sustained during combat. This allowed them to claim government compensation and awards. In some cases, members of the group used prepared fragments of ammunition. They inserted them under the skin to make it look like real shrapnel wounds. They also damaged their clothing and used blood to make the story seem more convincing.
According to *Kommersant*, medical personnel sometimes participated in these manipulations. They could help create a false picture of the injuries or prepare the relevant documents. Frolov himself also took part in one such staged incident. In September 2023, he was shot in the forearm with a silenced AK-12 assault rifle from a distance of about half a meter. According to the investigation, the injury was not serious, but it was to be used to obtain compensation payments.
Another incident occurred during filming in May 2024. Frolov threw a grenade into a dugout, but it ricocheted off the wall and exploded at his feet. This time, he did sustain injuries.
The court stripped Frolov of his rank and awards
The court found the former officer guilty of the illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition, bribery, and fraud related to the falsification of injury reports. For the aggregate of these crimes, he was sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security prison. In addition, Frolov was stripped of his rank of lieutenant colonel, four Orders of Courage, the “For Bravery” medal, and the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland,” 2nd class.
The case was heard in closed session. According to the publication, at the beginning of the trial, Frolov pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement with the prosecution. However, he later requested that the case be heard in open court and denied the charges against him. His attorney, Tatyana Zhuravleva, called the verdict unfounded and unlawful. She stated that, in her opinion, the court failed to take into account the defense’s motions and doubts regarding the case materials.
Dozens of people are implicated in the case
The investigation did not focus solely on Frolov. According to *Kommersant*, more than 30 people are implicated in the case, and the scheme itself involved the embezzlement of budget funds through fake injuries and fabricated combat merits. The investigation also established that members of the group illegally collected and stored various types of weapons and ammunition. Part of the arsenal was seized. According to the case file, some of the weapons may have been given as gifts to high-ranking officials.
Konstantin Frolov is the son of Oleg Frolov, the former deputy director general of Roscosmos, who had previously been accused of corruption offenses. The lieutenant colonel himself linked his prosecution to his father’s case. The story has become one of the most high-profile criminal cases in the Russian military, as it involves staging combat operations and injuries to obtain state funds and awards. At the same time, Frolov’s defense team disputes the verdict and alleges procedural violations during the trial, according to Russian media reports.
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