Russian soldier accused of killing civilian and raping his wife escapes arrest in Belgorod region

Alexey Kostrikin, 40, was detained earlier this week after allegedly entering a private house in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, close to the Ukrainian border, in the early hours of Wednesday. There, he apparently killed a local resident named Sergey and raped his wife.

Gladkov said that the Belgorod police were “taking all necessary measures to locate and apprehend” the suspect and requested an increased police presence in the region to detain Kostrikin as quickly as possible.

Independent news channel Pepel earlier wrote that Kostrikin did not act alone, however, the regional Investigative Committee did not mention that they were looking for other suspects when announcing Kostrikin’s arrest on Thursday.

Local news outlet Fonar published Kostrikin’s photo and called on local residents to inform the authorities if they saw someone matching his description.

This is not the first case of Russian soldiers being involved in violent crimes in regions bordering Ukraine. In May, Dmitry Stenkin, a soldier who had previously been convicted of rape, broke into a family home in the southwestern Kursk region and opened fire, killing a woman and seriously injuring her husband.