The murderer was recruited from prison to fight in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly honoured a murderer with a medal “for courage” after he died fighting in the war in Ukraine.
The Insider states that Ivan Neparatov was the leader of a gang of robbers near Moscow and that in July 2013, he and members of the group were found guilty of a number of crimes, including five murders.
It is reported that the gang wore police uniforms as they committed crimes.
Neparatov was handed a sentence of 25 years in prison, but only served 12 of them as he was then recruited to fight for Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
According to documents seen by The Insider, he was killed last month in the city of Artemovsk in the Donetsk region.
A certificate for the 34-year-old lists his cause of death as “a gunshot explosive fragmentation penetrating wound to the head.”
Neparatov is reported to have posthumously received a medal for courage that was signed by Putin.
He was also awarded a medal and orders “for blood and courage” from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
The head of NGO Russia Behind Bars Olga Romanova has stated that in some Russian prisons up to 20% of the jail population have been drafted to serve in the war against Ukraine.
“Approximately 20% of the prison population is recruited – if there are 1,300 people in prison, 300 are recruited,” she told the Daily Mail.
“They are not taken out all at once.
“They take out several squads of 50-60 people at a time.”
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