By Olha Hembik | 2026-04-17

Russia's returning soldiers are killing their neighbors. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, veterans of the so-called Special Military Operation (SMO) have killed or maimed more than 1,000 Russian civilians. And that figure almost certainly understates the true toll -- garrison courts have largely stopped publishing rulings on such cases.

The numbers that do exist are staggering. Fewer than 140,000 soldiers have returned from the front in nearly four years, yet they account for at least 240 murders, roughly 171 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, Russia's male homicide rate stands at about 9.25 per 100,000 annually, according to 2021 Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) statistics. The level of lethal violence among veterans runs more than 18 times the national average.

"More than half of these crimes are domestic disputes, most of them committed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Most of the victims are the veterans' own relatives, loved ones, acquaintances, and friends," Ivan Zhadaev, editor-in-chief of the independent outlet Verstka, said on the Khodorkovsky LIVE YouTube channel.

Shadow of the 'Afghans'

Russians have seen this before. Veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War flooded home in the late 1980s and organized into criminal groups in the 1990s, waging what one account described as prolonged turf wars that claimed dozens of lives. "Afghan" veteran associations used tax and customs exemptions to import tobacco, liquor and vehicles, and moved heavily into Moscow real estate.

A close relative of Olena Sushko, co-founder of a language school in Kyiv, came home from Afghanistan in 1989.

"For a while, my uncle stayed in touch with his fellow soldiers in Russia. But in the '90s, they all died in turf wars," Sushko told Kontur.

Her uncle, she said, would scream at night, couldn't sleep, was aggressive — his wife eventually left him.

"Back then, people just said these men were 'shell-shocked'; no one knew about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People just tried to avoid them, and there was no real rehabilitation," she said.

The violence unfolding now, observers say, is different in character — and worse.

"Compared to the 'Afghans' -- who organized into groups and followed a hierarchy -- the SMO veterans are completely unhinged. Any domestic dispute or even a passing comment on the street can escalate into a crime. Their cruelty is breaking all records," the anonymous administrator of the Telegram channel "Heroes of the SMO. Pride of Russia" told Kontur.

The channel documents serious crimes committed by returning veterans, including murders involving extreme cruelty, rape, and the molestation of minors. It currently features more than 300 posts. The crimes reported in Russian media include brutal dismemberment, the torture of the elderly, child rape, drunk driving fatalities, and frequent recidivism, the administrator noted.

Courts enable the cycle

One case illustrates how the system compounds the problem. In February, police in Yakutsk detained 38-year-old Viktor Savvinov, suspected of committing his fourth murder. Convicted of killing a woman in 2020, Savvinov was released to fight in the war zone and returned to Yakutia in 2024. He then killed a drinking companion before breaking into the home of a 64-year-old teacher and taking her life.

"It remains unclear how this 'butcher' ended up free again to commit yet another murder," the Yakut publication Ekho Stolitsy wrote.

Lenient courts are feeding the cycle, according to Verstka's Zhadaev, whose outlet reviewed more than 700 court sentences and rulings.

"In 90% of cases, participation in the 'SMO' is a mitigating factor. Sentences are significantly shorter. For example, under Article 111 of the Criminal Code, 'Infliction of Grave Bodily Harm,' 90% of the verdicts result in suspended sentences," he said.

"Absolute thugs are terrorizing the country, knowing full well they face no consequences. If the police catch them, the only risk they run is a return to the front," the Telegram channel's administrator said.

There, he noted, they earn medals and eventually return as heroes who have "atoned for their crimes with blood."

A wound that spans generations

The trauma will not stop with the veterans themselves, according to Małgorzata Wosińska, a PhD in anthropology specializing in genocide studies and a Polish psychotraumatologist.

"The traumatized children of killers -- whose lives will be shattered by their fathers' post-war aggression, self-harm, violence, and addiction -- represent another massive problem that will need to be addressed," Wosińska told Kontur.

She drew a parallel to postwar Germany.

"Those people were confronted with feelings of guilt and shame. They were the first to begin opening Jewish museums in Germany and translating books. They wanted to work through this trauma, and they succeeded," she said.

Whether Russian society can do the same remains an open question.

"Working through the trauma of the aggressor is a process that takes decades, at the very least," Wosińska said.