Returning veterans kill hundreds of Russians, manhunt for Russian serviceman who turned traitor

©picture alliance / TheKremlinMoscow-SvenSimon | The Kremlin Moscow

An escaped serial rapist and multiple murderer who fought in Ukraine and lashed out as he lay wounded in hospital is causing panic in Russia's Leningrad region. It turns out he's not the only recruit Russian society is worried about.

41-year-old Andrei Kiko escaped, and he's clearly not a saint. This is a dangerous, convicted criminal who was sent to the front line with the promise that his sentence would be remitted if he performed his military service for his Russian homeland. But Russia, as a result of this rule and promise, is meanwhile plaguing hundreds of veterans returning from the front line, often convicted criminals, who turn to murder upon their return to society. More than 100 murders are said to have already taken place in Russia over the past four years.

St. Petersburg news sites 47 News and Fontanka report that escapee Andrei Kiko is known as the "Sosnovsky maniac" because he used to rape and rob women in St. Petersburg's Sosnovsky Park. He also murdered two of his victims. In 2008, the Sosnovsky maniac was found guilty by a court and given a 22-year prison sentence. In 2023, his sentence was increased to 25 years because he was found guilty of another murder. Putin's reprieve from military service therefore came as a relief to him.

If convicted criminals fought on the front lines for six months and survived, the rest of their sentence was remitted. According to 47 News, Andrej Kiko signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in mid-2024 while still serving seven years of his prison sentence. In January 2025, he was injured and admitted to a hospital in Rostov, after which he left for rehabilitation to a hospital in Kronstadt, near St. Petersburg. There, he escaped, and a full-scale manhunt has been taking place ever since.

Returned or escaped killers: A major social problem in Russia

Since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Russians have died at the hands of veterans returning home. The independent Russian research site Vjorstka counted at least 551 Russian deaths in nearly four years late last year: 274 people died by homicide, 163 by aggravated assault and 78 in car accidents involving veterans.

Authorities know that many of these veterans were recruited in prison and that the war has further blurred their sense of standards. More than half of all the deceased were killed by former prisoners. Of the 281 previously convicted soldiers who again killed or fatally wounded someone after returning from the front line, at least 142 were already serving prison terms for similar crimes.

©picture alliance / TheKremlinMoscow-SvenSimon | The Kremlin Moscow - Photo from the military parade in Moscow.