Commanders of mercenary companies were arrested for the murder of fellow soldiers in Ukraine

The commander of the “Storm-Gladiator” company of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and his deputy were detained in the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine. They are suspected of murdering two colleagues, they write to several Telegram channels with reference to sources. This information has not been officially confirmed.

The ASTRA Telegram channel reports the names of the suspects: it is allegedly commander Alexander Ostashkov – journalists indicate that he is 37 or 38 years old, and his deputy, 29-year-old Magomed Magomedov, is from the Caucasus. Realii indicates that he is a native of Dagestan. The victims, according to their statement, were 60-year-old Shakir Akberov and 57-year-old Andrei Lukashyn.

On September 18, bodies of those killed with gunshot wounds were found at a bus stop in the village of Zeleny Yar. The soldiers were mercenaries of the “Storm Z” detachment – it consists of prisoners who were recruited to Ukraine by representatives of the Ministry of Defense.

It is confirmed that all the mentioned soldiers, both those killed and those suspected of murder, were tried: in particular, Magomedov – for theft and robbery (according to a number of reports also for fraud), and Ostashkov – for fraud, robbery, theft and embezzlement. Telegram channel “Ostorozhno Novosti” writes that the murdered Akberov and Lukashyn also had criminal convictions: the first – for drugs, the second – for theft, robbery, robbery and illegal possession of weapons.

Redaktion Kavkaz.Realii managed to find the verdict of the Lenin District Court of Makhachkala in the case of Magomed Magomedov Yusupovich, who was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence in January 2020 for robbery with violence. The defendant admitted that in April 2019 he was in a hookah bar, approached one of the visitors, slapped him in the face a couple of times, took a phone worth 15,000 rubles and hid.

The documents do not indicate Magomedov’s date of birth, but it is said that a few months before that, in November 2019, he was convicted in Moscow of theft – he and his accomplices stole things from the victim’s bag. For this, he was sentenced to a year and two months in prison, but the sentence was already considered to have been served.

• In January 2023, the Ministry of Defense reported for the first time about the functioning of the “Storm” detachment. The release of the military department said that it consists of “volunteers” who are sent to the front “to break through the most difficult and echeloned sections of the defense of the Armed Forces.” The Russian mass media wrote that fighters were being recruited for him in the colonies. Later it became known that the courts write off debts due to unpaid loans, state duties and civil claims against the mercenaries of the Ministry of Defense.
• The “Storm Z” detachment of the Ministry of Defense is headed by Alietdin Makhmudov, a native of Dagestan. He was sentenced to 17.5 years for organizing the contract killing of a Volgograd businessman.
• At the beginning of October, Reuters wrote that those convicted and punished for military disciplinary violations were sent to the Russian “Storm Z” units. Russian state media also previously wrote about the existence of the “Storm Z” detachments, but did not provide details.
• According to the agency, there are about 100–150 people in the “Storm Z” detachment. They operate as part of regular army units. “Storma fighters are just meat,” one of the private soldiers of a military unit stationed near the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine told Reuters.