Military man from Volgograd Region convicted in bribery case for refusing to send military personnel to front line

Pavel Chaichenko, who served in the Volgograd Region, was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a penal colony for transferring to the commanders a part of the bribes from two military men who asked not to be sent to the special military operation zone in Ukraine.

In Rostov-on-Don, the Southern District Military Court confirmed the verdict against Pavel Chaichenko, who was found guilty of mediation in bribery. According to the case materials, for 900,000 roubles, he promised two military men that they would be left at the point of the permanent deployment of their military unit without being sent to the front line, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

As follows from the decision released on the court’s official website, in November 2022, Pavel Chaichenko was addressed by his acquaintance who asked to “resolve the issue” about the fate of the two military men, so as not to send them to the special military operation zone. Pavel Chaichenko made an agreement with his former colleague who requested 450,000 roubles per person, in order to then hand the money over to one of the commanders of the military unit. Pavel Chaichenko got the money from the military men and handed it over to the intermediary.

The court refused to consider confession as a mitigating circumstance, since by the time Pavel Chaichenko came with confession, a criminal case had been already instituted against him. At the same time, the court recognized the defendant’s taking care of a minor child, active contribution to the investigation into the crime, admission of his guilt, repentance for the crime, participation in the special military operation (SMO), and positive characteristics from the military unit as mitigating circumstances in the case.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that the court sentenced Roman Semak, a military man from the Volgograd Region, to two years and six months of imprisonment, finding him guilty of evading the military service.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.