Overview

• Investigators tied dozens of 83rd Air Assault Brigade servicemen to a scheme that extracted more than 200 million roubles from the state.
• Lt. Col. Konstantin Frolov and Guard Col. Artyom Gorodilov admitted asking subordinates to shoot them and now face large-scale fraud charges, with Frolov also accused of bribery and illegal weapons possession.
• Both officers entered pre-trial cooperation agreements that implicated co-conspirators, and their requests to return to combat were rejected.
• Participants reportedly received one-off payments of 3 million roubles per injury along with paid leave, preferential medical care, and in some cases state decorations.
• Independent reporting challenged state-media portrayals of Frolov’s heroism as embellished or fabricated, set against a 2024 policy shift that introduced tiered injury compensation.