Court ruling on complaint of wife of "Caucasian Knot" correspondent points to investigators' inaction

A court in Volgograd has sided with Olga Sorokina, the wife of Vyacheslav Yaschenko, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in Volgograd, who demanded from the police to investigate attempts to break into her apartment and intimidate her. However, there is no hope for progress in the case; investigators are not interested to deal with it, Vyacheslav believes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 24, 2024, unknown masked men, introducing themselves as "neighbours" and "SMO (special military operation) veterans", tried to break down the door to Vyacheslav Yaschenko's apartment. At the time of their arrival, only the journalist's wife was there. She contacted the police, but investigators refused to open a case.

On August 22, the court issued a ruling on the investigators' refusal to open a case. The ruling to satisfy Olga Sorokina's complaint is more of a formality than a real victory, a source said, being sceptical about the possibility of investigating the case.

"As far as I know, the court has issued such a ruling only because nothing was done on the case at all. Investigators didn't even inspect the crime venue," the source has added. Investigators have treated the case "carelessly" from the very beginning, Vyacheslav Yaschenko is sure.

"They failed to process the application in time and protracted the process ... After all, they could have traced the attackers by CCTV footage ... It is unclear how they are going to look for them now," he has emphasized.

Let us remind you that on January 18, 2024, policemen searched Yaschenko's house in connection with the case of Evgeny Kochegin*, an activist, accused of spreading fake news about the Russian Army, and seized Vyacheslav's phone and a laptop. The search was carried out with violations, the advocate has pointed out.

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