The leader of the 'Mecenatovskie' organized crime group, Dmitry Vedernikov, who was sentenced in 2022 to 24.5 years in a colony, but in 2024 he went to war, escaped from the 'SVO' zone, reported the portal 'Chita.ru'.
Dmitry Vedernikov is the leader of the 'Mecenatovskie' criminal group, which operated in the 90s and 2000s in Transbaikalia. The group kidnapped foreign cars and extorted money from their owners for the return of the car, with dozens of murders on its account. Vedernikov was found guilty of organizing a gang, murdering 11 people, four attempted murders, kidnappings, assaults, robberies, illegal arms trafficking, illegal entry into a dwelling, as well as 52 episodes of extortion.
However, two years after the sentence, Vedernikov left the colony by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Initially, he was denied due to age, but later the prisoner wrote appeals to Deputy Andrey Gurulev and the Governor of the Transbaikal Territory Alexander Osipov. Gurulev publicly stated that he would take care of his petition, and soon Vedernikov found himself in the combat zone.
According to the publication's sources, Vedernikov left the service in August 2025, and in September a criminal case was initiated against him for unauthorized abandonment of the unit in conditions of armed conflict.