A gang of "bear cubs" who committed thefts from expensive cottages will be tried in Yekaterinburg (PHOTO)

      The gang of "bear cub thieves," who committed thefts from expensive cottages, will be tried in Yekaterinburg (PHOTO)

      September 3, 2026

      In Yekaterinburg, members of an interregional group of apartment thieves accused of stealing property worth about 20 million rubles from residents of Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk will stand trial, the media relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Yekaterinburg reported on Thursday.

      The criminal case under part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Theft in especially large amounts with illegal entry into a dwelling") has already been sent by investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Yekaterinburg to the Kirov District Court of Yekaterinburg.

      Four of its defendants are charged with a series of thefts of jewelry, money, and other property from private homes, as well as offices of various companies, committed in the fall of 2025 in the territories of the cities of Yekaterinburg and Berezovsky, as well as the Sosnovsky District of the Chelyabinsk Region.

      In total, the criminal case includes eight criminal episodes. The total damage caused to the victims amounted to about 20 million rubles.

      Thus, at the end of September 2025, the police of Yekaterinburg began receiving reports from citizens living mainly in private cottages. The victims reported in a similar manner that unknown individuals had entered their homes by prying open plastic windows or doors.

      The thieves' targets in most cases were exclusively jewelry items—expensive watches of elite brands and gold jewelry with precious stones. However, some complainants reported missing electric scooters, a Dyson hairdryer, and expensive alcohol.

      The thieves tried to maintain a low profile: they approached the houses mainly from the forest side to hide their transport, used balaclavas and gloves for disguise, and committed crimes in the shortest possible time to escape before the security arrived in case of an alarm triggering.

      During the examination of video recordings from surveillance cameras, it became clear that the same group of unknown individuals acted in all cases.

      As a result of the painstaking operational work of the employees of the apartment theft unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Yekaterinburg, the police managed to identify the participants in the crimes. When cross-referencing information with colleagues from other regions, it turned out that the group committed thefts alternately in both regions. The criminals could commit one theft in the morning in Yekaterinburg and the second in the afternoon in Chelyabinsk.

      As a result, the defendants were identified and detained by the criminal investigation department of Yekaterinburg in cooperation with colleagues from the Chelyabinsk region.

      Despite the fact that the criminals were hiding in the territories of two neighboring subjects, thanks to the coordinated interaction of the operatives, all defendants were found. Among them were residents of Yekaterinburg and Surgut. Some of them had previously been held criminally liable.