Lieutenant Colonel Accused of Orchestrating Soldier Injury Payout Scheme

Konstantin Frolov, call sign Executioner, was hailed in Russian propaganda with four Orders of Courage and videos describing battlefield wounds. The Investigative Committee has accused him and another commander from the 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade of leading a plot in which more than 30 soldiers and medics shot themselves to claim injury payments.

Investigators say the army was defrauded of 200 million rubles and that commanders took a cut. Frolov faces charges of fraud, bribery and weapons trafficking in a military court and struck a pretrial deal that court filings say amounts to admitting guilt; he is due in court next month for sentencing.

From a detention center he acknowledged involvement in a payouts scheme but said it relied on manipulated records rather than self-inflicted wounds, and he admitted taking some weapons as “souvenirs.” He has also said his arrest was retaliation for criticizing senior officers and an attempt to pressure his father, who faces separate corruption accusations.

Russia

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