Double Maniacs Oleg Kosarev and Valery Deev
Oleg Kosarev, a serial rapist, thief and abuser nicknamed the “lifter,” carried out surgeries in Moscow and nearby towns such as Chekhov and Serpukhov. Across his criminal career, he is believed to have committed around 140 rapes, with just over 40 proven cases, and he received multiple long-term sentences tied to those offenses.
His first known rape occurred at age 18 in 1984. He was sent for compulsory treatment to a psychiatric hospital, where he assaulted a nurse. He was later deemed sane and given an eight-year prison term.
After release, Kosarev returned to criminal activity. From the summer of 1992 onward, he targeted schoolchildren, assaulting them at entrances and threatening them with a knife. He sometimes posed as a blind man and attacked victims in elevator lobbies.
The violence continued for years until his arrest in 1995 while attempting to sell stolen goods from a victim. He initially denied the crimes, but eventually confessed. By that time, investigators logged 40 attacks against his name, though other alleged incidents could not be proven because victims refused to testify.
In March 1997, Kosarev was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He served 12.5 years and was released in 2010.
During this period, Kosarev married and started a family, with a daughter born during the marriage. His wife discovered the nature of his crimes only a year later, chose to end the relationship, and filed for divorce. This reality propelled him back into criminal activity.
In April 2011, Kosarev kidnapped and assaulted two girls, and authorities identified him by handwriting. He introduced a disturbing new pattern: after rapes he forced victims to consume phenazepam mixed with diphenhydramine from a syringe, washed down with vodka.
Consequently, Kosarev faced charges of violence, rape and robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2012.
Remarkably, as Kosarev faced his sentence, Valery Deev was released in the same year. Deev had started his criminal career long before 1995, with prior convictions for assaults on women. After release, he resumed preying on teenagers, luring them into stairwells and elevators with threats and coercion. He carried out crimes in Moscow and other districts in the region.
Deev was arrested in 1997 and given a 15-year term. He admitted to more than 50 episodes, though only 23 could be proven in court.
Released in 2011, Deev continued similar criminal behavior, forming a disturbing routine. He approached children on the street, invited them home while his wife worked, and used drugs to subdue and abuse them, exploiting trust and secrecy in domestic life.
However, Deev faced further legal trouble when a separate incident prompted renewed surveillance. The details emerged in subsequent investigations, painting a grim picture of repeated predatory behavior. In 2017, he was sentenced to 20 years for indecent acts against minors.
Black magician-pedophile Sergey Pimenov
In Moscow, Sergey Pimenov was sentenced to 16 years for the murder and rape of a teenager in 2004 and was released on parole in the fall of 2020. Even before his release, he laid groundwork for future offenses.
While serving his sentence in 2018, Pimenov created a VKontakte group titled “Black Magic.” He introduced himself as a magician and recruited young people, inviting them to participate in initiation rites and a magic school for boys aged 12 to 18.
After his release, Pimenov moved to Dolgoprudny near Moscow and began acting on his plans. He engaged in long discussions with a 15-year-old Moscow student, promising to heal his seriously ill mother, a claim that exploited the boy’s belief and fostered psychological dependence. The teen agreed to meet, unaware of the danger.
On December 17, 2020, Pimenov took the boy into a forest, subjected him to physical abuse, and inflicted wounds with a wax candle, later raping him. The boy remained privately shaken for days, hiding away and shutting out the world to cope with the trauma.
The boy told his mother and stepfather shortly after, and they contacted the police. By February 17, 2020, Pimenov was arrested, and investigators uncovered another victim in St. Petersburg. The case remains under review, but prosecutors anticipate a lengthy prison term for Pimenov, potentially approaching twenty years.
Anvar Masalimov – the first person released from life imprisonment
Anvar Masalimov from Ufa became a landmark in Russian legal history as the first person released from life imprisonment. His early crimes included stabbing, strangling and dismembering a person, for which he spent time behind bars.
In the late 1970s, Masalimov drank heavily, fought with a colleague, and killed him. He received a 15-year sentence. He was released in 1991, but soon returned to prison after another serious offense.
On August 17, 1991, Masalimov killed a pensioner during a dispute over living space, attempting to dismember and burn the body, and then burying the remains. He confessed when confronted by neighbors who reported the crime. Initially sentenced to death for the second crime, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1998 due to a moratorium on the death penalty.
Masalimov’s fate shifted again on June 22, 2016, when he, having served 25 years, was granted parole. Returning to Ufa, he faced new charges in 2018 for violent acts and murder, and in 2019 he received an additional sentence for grievous bodily harm. His case remains a stark reminder of the cycle of violence and the long shadow it casts.