People look at the newly unveiled monument to the ‘Heroes of the Special Military Operation’ by sculptor Meiram Baimukhanov, in Kudrovo, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, 15 September 2025. EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV
A soldier accused of killing a civilian and raping his wife in Russia’s western Belgorod region escaped arrest late on Friday, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Saturday.
Alexey Kostrykin. Photo: Fonar
Alexey Kostrykin, 40, was detained earlier this week after allegedly entering a private house in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, close to the Ukrainian border, in the early hours of Wednesday. There, he apparently killed a local resident named Sergey and raped his wife.
Gladkov said that the Belgorod police were “taking all necessary measures to locate and apprehend” the suspect and requested an increased police presence in the region to detain Kostrykin as quickly as possible.
Independent news channel Pepel earlier wrote that Kostrykin did not act alone, however, the regional Investigative Committee did not mention that they were looking for other suspects when announcing Kostrykin’s arrest on Thursday.
Local news outlet Fonar published Kostrykin’s photo and called on local residents to inform the authorities if they saw someone matching his description.
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.
