Killers are hired without competition, and ministers have to sue to go to the "SVO"
Going to war has become a popular way to avoid criminal responsibility—it's used by both high-ranking officials and dangerous killers. Laws in Russia are effectively being nullified, creating a precedent of impunity for criminals.
In just the last 24 hours, two more convicts have been identified as wanting to spend their sentences in the SVO zone:
🔸 Former Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defense and the Military Commissariat MoscowThe reason: his request to be sent to the "SVO" is being ignored. In his lawsuit, Ivanov claims he has still not received any response to his repeated request. He requests that the military's inaction be declared unlawful.
Timur Ivanov was arrested in April 2024. In the summer of 2025, a court found him guilty of embezzling budget funds during the purchase of two ferries for the Kerch Strait crossing, as well as of withdrawing nearly 4 billion rubles from Interkommerts Bank. Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
🔸 In Moscow A member of a special forces gang that killed more than 40 people was sentenced. The convicted person was a lawyer with the International Bar Association "Eurasian Union." Vladimir Silin, who organized three murders, in one of which he personally participated.
A special forces gang operated in the 90s and early 2000s, carrying out contract killings of businessmen and crime bosses. The gang included the former chief of staff of the Rys Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR). Alexey Alpatov and fighters of the Vityaz special forces, as well as employees of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other security agencies.
Vladimir Silin was arrested in November 2024. He entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement with the prosecutor's office and testified against his accomplices and masterminds. He was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison. However, immediately after the sentence was finalized, Silin signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and went to war in Ukraine.
