Another member of a gang of former police officers has been sentenced in Yekaterinburg (PHOTO)

      Verdict handed down to another member of the gang of former policemen in Yekaterinburg (PHOTO)

      September 28, 2025

      In Yekaterinburg on Thursday, September 25, a verdict was handed down to another member of the "gang of former policemen" led by OBON operative Vladislav Sobol, which operated in the Ural capital more than 20 years ago.

      In 1999–2000 the convicted man, Konstantin Kotik, then an operative of the Kirov District Police Department of Yekaterinburg, was part of a gang of five people, including serving (at that time) police officers. They are responsible for 11 murders.

      Former policeman Kotik was charged under subparagraphs "a," "d," "zh," "z," and "k" of part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder of two or more persons, committed with particular cruelty, for hire, combined with robbery and banditry, by a group of persons, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, with the purpose of concealing another crime).

      The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced the accused to 8 years in a strict-regime penal colony, and also ordered 2.5 million rubles in compensation to the victims.

      When handing down the sentence, the court took into account his sincere confession. The defendant fully admitted his guilt, expressed remorse and apologized to the victims. Apparently indicating his remorse and transformation, Kotik called himself "a completely different person," notes the Telegram channel "Zloy Yekaterinburg."

      According to the Sverdlovsk Region prosecutor's office, in October 1999 Kotik and Sobol together kidnapped near a house on Raevsky Street and murdered in a forest two young men whom they suspected of selling drugs. In addition, Kotik took part in the June 2000 murder of three people in a heat chamber near a house on Novgorodtseva Street and the October 2000 killing of two people on Pekhotintsev Street. There the victims of the "werewolves" were an acquaintance of one of them who had come to Yekaterinburg to buy goods, and an acquaintance of a businessman.

      At the disposal of the criminal group created by former policeman and OBON operative of the Kirovsky RUVD Vladislav Sobol were five firearms: a Makarov pistol, two IZH pistols modified to fire live ammunition, and two sawn-off hunting smoothbore shotguns.

      The main motive for the crimes was enrichment (i.e., financial gain), the investigation notes.

      Criminal cases against members of the "werewolves in uniform" gang are being heard separately in the district courts of Yekaterinburg. Another member of the gang, former policeman Vladimir Semeniuk, born in 1969, was previously sentenced to 9 years in a strict-regime corrective colony.

      Vladislav Sobol himself struck a deal with the investigation and avoided the maximum penalty.

      The jury found unproven the involvement in the gang of another defendant, a former employee of the Kirovsky RUVD and currently head of a department in the Yekaterinburg city administration, Anton Borovik.

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