Since the start of the war against Ukraine, FSB officers have killed at least 66 people during detentions in Russia and four in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, calculated «Important Stories» based on reports in open sources.
At least 44 of those killed during detentions were Russian citizens. Nine people were named in law enforcement press releases as natives of Central Asian countries without specifying citizenship. At least two of the killed were citizens of Kazakhstan, one each from Ukraine and Belarus.
In 28 cases, the FSB suspected the killed of preparing attacks on the orders of Ukrainian special services or volunteer units from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but evidence was almost never provided.
For example, on July 4, 2023, FSB officers shot dead a 38-year-old taxi driver, Andrey Lokhmanov, in the Tyumen region, who, according to law enforcement, was a «Ukrainian nationalist» and tried to blow up a gas distribution unit. The security service claimed that the Tyumen resident engaged in a shootout and «used an explosive device». However, residents of the village of Kukushek, where the man was killed, did not hear gunfire that day.
Another 27 people were suspected of ties with the «Islamic State»**, four of them were considered members of the Central Asian wing of IS «Wilayat Khorasan», 11 were killed after committing terrorist attacks in Dagestan and Ingushetia in 2024 as a result of a shootout. The FSB suspected 14 people of participating in Islamist terrorist organizations but did not specify the names of these groups.
Most often, suspects were killed during detentions in the North Caucasus regions — 12 each in Dagestan and Ingushetia and nine people in Kabardino-Balkaria.
Among those shot dead during detentions in the Caucasus were the sons of the head of the Sergokala district of Dagestan, Magomed Omarov, Osman and Adil, who pledged allegiance to IS, as well as his nephew Abdusamad Amadzhiyev, MMA fighter Gadzhimurad Kagirov, and another militant. They were shot by law enforcement immediately after committing terrorist attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent in June 2024.
Also, in March 2024, six IS members were shot in Ingushetia, who were wanted in connection with the murder of three law enforcement officers and an attack on a traffic police post.
During this time, FSB officers killed another six people in Moscow and the Moscow region, four each in the Kaluga region, Stavropol, and the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region.
Lawyer of the «First Department»*** Yevgeny Smirnov believes that in reality, the number of people killed by security services could be much higher, and some of the published killings may be staged after torture. «Russian law enforcement behaves extremely brutally with those suspected of committing crimes of a terrorist nature. Unpunished torture in these cases has become almost the norm, while people are held accountable literally for calling a terrorist or for any assistance (let's recall the cases of explosions on the Crimean bridge or drone attacks on airfields, in which drivers and logisticians were detained).
I admit that some of these „kills during detention“ are actually staged, and the person's death occurred as a result of torture, some killings are simply manifestations of the bloodthirstiness and cruelty of Russian security services».
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.
** Recognized as a terrorist organization.
*** Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».