The Russian parliament wants to regain control over prisoners returning from the war

Nina Ostanina, chair of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, has proposed drafting a special bill to provide Russians with legal protection from former prisoners who commit new crimes after returning from the war in Ukraine.

“Law enforcement agencies must take responsibility for protecting citizens from such criminals. It is necessary to regularly monitor their movements and help them find work,” Ostanina wrote on Telegram.

The trigger for this appears to be the recent murder of 12-year-old girl Karina Kabikova in the Russian region of Kemerovo. She was reported missing from the town of Topki on Tuesday, June 18. Her body was discovered the following day in an abandoned building in the city center, just 250 meters from two police stations.

The killer, named by Telegram channel Siberian Express as 49-year-old Andrey Bykov, had previously been convicted six times on charges including murder. He was released from prison in October 2023 to take part in the war against Ukraine, but was captured by Ukrainian forces in December. After his arrest, he was exchanged on January 31 this year, only to return and commit a new crime.

The source who told Russian news channel RIA Novosti about the events remained silent on how the former prisoner was eventually released and made it to Russia. She said: “Maybe he deserted from his unit, maybe he was on vacation.”

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“Such tragedies will happen more and more often. After returning from the front, these people are not socialized and pose a danger to society,” Ostanina said.

Last November, a Kyiv Post journalist spoke to Russian prisoners of war currently being held in Ukraine. One of them is Sergei. He is one of many Russian soldiers who have been promised release from prison, a state pardon and a salary of about $2,200 a month – almost double the average salary in Russia.

“Our entire 4th Company is recruited from former prisoners,” says Sergei, who served two and a half years of the seven and a half years he was sentenced to for murder before being drafted into the Russian army.

According to Serhiy, the military contract of some of his fellow prisoners has already expired, but they were not allowed to go home.

“It doesn’t really mean anything to them. They have to stay in the army until the war is over,” he said.

According to an April report on the Independent news site, Russian soldiers stationed in occupied Ukraine were charged with more than 20 murders in 2023, while more than 100 murders were committed by returnees on mainland Russia in the same year.