The court in Yekaterinburg has begun hearing the criminal case against 38-year-old serviceman Denis Goparov, who is charged with desertion (Article 338, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), murder (Article 105, Part 2, Clause "z"), robbery (Article 162, Part 4, Clauses "b" and "v"), and theft (Article 158, Part 3, Clauses "v" and "g").
According to investigators, the man had previously served under the surname Polovnikov. After being discharged from a military hospital in February 2024, he failed to return to his unit and changed his surname. In August of the same year, he was detained but escaped again before being sent to the front line. In spring 2025, he met a 44-year-old widow of a combat-deceased soldier, learning that she had received a 12 million ruble pension due to her husband’s death. He gained access to her banking app. After being refused a request for 1 million rubles to buy a car, on May 8th he lured her to a remote area, murdered her, buried her body, and transferred 1 million rubles from her account to himself and his wife. Several days later, the soldier was apprehended, and he confessed to the crimes.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1860591507771404/
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