Alleged accomplice of Russian soldier who fled rape and murder charges detained

The Russian security forces have detained a man they suspect of aiding a serviceman who went on the run after being charged with rape and murder, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Monday.

Gladkov promised that the regional authorities would reward the servicemen who detained the unnamed man if he did indeed turn out to be an accomplice in the case of Alexey Kostrikin.

Telegram news channel Bletgorod later named the alleged accomplice as Maxim Pogodin. In footage of an interrogation, Pogodin, dressed in military uniform, clearly in pain and showing signs of injury, said that Kostrikin had killed two men, while Pogodin had himself disposed of the gun in nearby woods.

Kostrikin was originally detained on 30 October after he allegedly broke into a house in the Belgorod region village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, killed its 56-year-old owner, who local media later identified only as Sergey, and raped Sergey’s schoolteacher wife. 

However, Kostrikin escaped from custody the day after his arrest and was only recaptured a week later. During his week on the run, police suspect he may have been involved in the  murder of a man in whose house he had taken refuge.

Local news website Pepel speculated that Kostrikin’s experience as a point man for the Russian military in Ukraine had enabled him to remain undetected in the Shebekino district for so long, having been charged with leading Russian servicemen to positions avoiding minefields and other potentially fatal hazards. 

Kostrikin has previously been convicted of gang rape, breaking and entering, theft, robbery and drug possession, according to independent media outlet Agentstvo, which also reported that he had been serving a custodial sentence in a penal colony when the war began in 2022 but was granted early release after signing a contract with the Defence Ministry to serve on the frontline. 

This is not the first case of Russian soldiers being involved in violent crimes in regions bordering Ukraine. In May, Dmitry Stenkin, a soldier who had previously been convicted of rape, broke into a family home in the southwestern Kursk region and opened fire, killing a woman and seriously injuring her husband.