In the Russian Federation, a cannibal recruited in a colony returned home from the war against Ukraine

Dmytro Malyshev, who was convicted of murder and cannibalism and was recruited for the war in Ukraine, returned to his native village of Rakhinka in the Volgograd region, the head of the settlement Fedir Kadovba told v1.ru.

According to the official, Malyshev was already returning due to injuries at the beginning of the year, but then he went to war again. According to the official, Malyshev told him in a personal conversation that he intends to go to the front again soon, Kavkaz.Realii reports.

In 2015, Malyshev was sentenced to 25 years behind bars on charges of cannibalism, murder of two people with extreme brutality as part of a criminal group, banditry, theft and illegal trafficking of weapons, preparation to kill police officers and robbery. His criminal activities became known after his arrest in the most high-profile case: he killed an acquaintance of a citizen of Tajikistan, and then cut out and ate his heart. He himself documented everything that happened on video, the police never established the cannibal’s motives, local media reported.

Malyshev was to remain in the colony until 2040. However, already in May 2024, he took a picture during the war in Ukraine with an equally famous fellow countryman, convicted from the city of Volga Oleksandr Maslennikov, who killed and dismembered two girls. Together, they signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in October 2023 and went to war as part of the Storm Z unit, Malyshev told reporters.

Maslennikov was sentenced to 23 years for double murder. In 2017, after leaving the colony where he was serving a previous term for rape, robbery and robbery, he came to Volzhsky and met two girls at a karaoke club. Maslennikov invited them to his rented apartment, where he stabbed and dismembered them.

Prisoners, including those convicted of murder and other serious crimes, began to be recruited for the war against Ukraine in the first months after the Russian invasion. At first, this was handled by the Wagner PMC group, and then directly by the Ministry of Defense. Subsequently, the State Duma passed laws that officially allow the recruitment of prisoners and determine the conditions for their release.

According to open sources, it was possible to establish the names of more than 10,000 prisoners who probably died in the war against Ukraine. Dozens of cases are known when former prisoners who returned from the war committed new serious crimes.