A Russian soldier fighting on the frontlines of Ukraine killed his colleague and lived off his remains for two weeks, Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (HUR) has claimed.
HUR released what it said was an intercepted call between two of Vladimir Putin’s troops in which they were heard discussing an alleged case of cannibalism among the ranks.
One soldier was heard telling his stunned comrade in an expletive-laden rant how a soldier nicknamed Brelok – or ‘keychain’ – killed his fellow infantryman ‘Foma’ and began eating him.
‘F***ing hell… Brelok f***ing ate him, f*** me… nobody went anywhere. Brelok whacked him and then ate him for f***ing two weeks,’ the first caller says.
‘No f***ing way… holy sh*t… f*** my bald skull. Was Brelok really found as a 200?’ the other responds.
The term 200 refers to someone who is found killed in action.
‘Yeah, they say he was a 200. He ate his comrade. So yeah… something to think about. I was shocked myself,’ the first caller concluded.
Ukraine’s HUR has intermittently shared snippets of phone calls it says are genuine interceptions of Russian communications since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, though there is no way to verify whether they are genuine.
But several Russian units engaged in frontline combat in Ukraine are made up of hardened criminals who agreed to sign up for the so-called ‘special military operation’ in exchange for a commutation of their sentences.
In May 2024, it emerged that a convicted cannibal and a murderer-rapist were among the men freed by the Russian defence ministry before heading to the frontlines.
Dmitry Malyshev, 36, was jailed after frying the heart of one of three men he killed.
He was hit with a 25-year sentence for ‘murder of two people with particular cruelty as part of a criminal gang, banditry, theft and illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition, preparation for the murder of police officers, robbery and eating the heart of the last victim’, Russian media reported.
Meanwhile, rapist and killer Alexander Maslennikov, 38, used an axe and a meat grinder to cut up and mince the bodies of two women he invited to his flat for a pizza, before ‘feeding human flesh to the dogs’.
The pair were pictured grinning together in military fatigues after being freed from jail in late 2023.
Malyshev told Russia’s V1 outlet that he and Maslennikov wanted ‘to preserve the traditional values of Russia’ in fighting for Putin.
‘Alexander and I were serving sentences together and we both signed contracts with the Ministry of Defence in October 2023.’
In his confession, Malyshev – pardoned and released 17 years early by Russian courts in coordination with the Defence Ministry – told police about his cannibalism.
‘I caught up with a man there, and killed him.
‘I hit him several times in the head with a nail gun and cut out his heart,’ he said, adding that he took the heart home.
In a crime reconstruction, he said: ‘I reached in with my hand and pulled out the heart… I sliced it here, the heart’s on the table, I just sliced it. Then I put it in a frying pan and started frying it… Then I ate it.
‘Well, well, well, we’re frying human flesh. Here we have a heart.’
He said he ‘added the onions and the seasoning… Now I’m gonna stir it in. It’s going to be ******* awesome.’
Maslennikov, a convicted rapist, was jailed for 23 years for double murder, but released from jail by Putin 18-and-a-half years early.
He killed two sales assistants, Daria Labutina, 29, and Olga Shaposhnikova, 28, after meeting them at a karaoke bar and inviting them to his flat for pizza.
He testified that he had sex with Daria – and then killed her in the bathroom.
Maslennikov then went to eat pizza and smoke with Olga, who was initially unaware her friend had been murdered.
After she refused to have sex with him, he tied her up and gagged her – smoking and drinking next to her as she pleaded in vain for her life.
Forensic evidence showed Olga died from strangulation. Maslennikov stabbed her repeatedly after death.
He then went to buy an axe, file, spade, and plastic bin bags.
Prosecutors told the court the DNA of both women was found on a meat grinder in his kitchen.
Local reports citing law enforcement said that he fed some meat to dogs.
