Former Buryatian police officers Evgeny Inkin and Dmitry Istomin, who were handed 17 and 18 years in prison for the murder of two young women, were reported to have headed toward the Northern Military District. This development was shared by the Telegram channel Attention, news.
According to the channel, the two men signed enlistment documents with the Ministry of Defense and departed for the special military operations zone in Ukraine, joining the ranks of personnel deployed there.
The case traces back to 2002, when the bodies of two girls, aged 17 and 18, were discovered in the Klyukvennaya Pad area of Kabansky district with clear signs of violent trauma, including skull and head injuries. For a long time, no criminal proceedings were opened, and the investigation remained dormant. The inquiry was rekindled after a third girl, who had managed to escape from security forces in 2019, provided testimony that led investigators to reexamine the case. Suspects were eventually detained as a result of her statements.
In March 2023, a jury established the culpability of Inkin and Istomin for murder. They were sentenced to 17 and 18 years in prison, respectively, marking a grim legal resolution to a case that had haunted the region for more than two decades.
A resident of Trans-Baikal who had previously returned from the Northern Military District became involved in a separate incident. He attacked a woman with a knife and stole her car. It was reported that in 2020 this individual was sentenced for a serious crime carried out in Krasnokamensk. After serving time in a penal colony, the convict left for the Northern Military District and, following injuries sustained there, returned to his hometown, illustrating a troubling pattern of violence linked to the broader security and mobility issues in the region.
There have been prior cases linking Russian citizens to criminal activity connected to forced labor and exploitation as they moved between fronts and home frontiers. The pattern highlights ongoing concerns about crime, coercion, and the strains on law enforcement in volatile border regions, especially given the broader context of military operations and the social disruption that accompanies them. The narratives surrounding these events underscore the complexities facing investigators as they navigate long-running cases and rapidly changing security landscapes across the country.