Private Nikolai Blazhevenko, who left his post without permission, was sentenced to 18 years in a high-security prison for attempted murder and unlawful seizure of a vehicle without the intent to steal, using violence, the press service of the Krasnoyarsk Garrison Military Court reported.
According to the published case materials, in April 2024, Blazhevenko decided to «take a break» from military service and «did not report to the military unit, but started living in the city of Krasnoyarsk».
In June 2024, the police detained the man, but he later escaped again and started living in Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Krai. In August of the previous year, the drunk soldier called a taxi from the city to one of the villages, and the order was taken by a girl who works as a taxi driver.
The first trip went smoothly, but the serviceman asked the taxi driver to take him to another address, to which she refused due to lack of payment. He then went home supposedly for money, but returned with a knife and inflicted at least six blows to the head and neck of the taxi driver.
The girl managed to break free and run out of the car, but the man caught up with her and started to strangle her, causing her to lose consciousness. Believing the taxi driver to be dead, the serviceman stole her car. He was soon detained by the police.
The soldier was sentenced to 18 years in a high-security prison. The court also satisfied the civil claim of the girl who survived the attack by the soldier for compensation of moral damages in the amount of a million rubles.
«Siberia.Realii»* found at least two court decisions indicating that Blazhevenko was most likely recruited for the war from prison. In 2016, he was sentenced to imprisonment for murder.
In June 2021, Blazhevenko filed a lawsuit against the Federal Penitentiary Service, demanding to be transferred to a prison closer to his relatives.
* Recognized in Russia as an «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.