December 29, 2025

If You Fight in the War, We'll Forgive You


If You Fight in the War, We'll Forgive You
Jail cell. The Russian Life file.

On December 27, Mediazona reported that a soldier from Kaluga stabbed a woman 42 times over an insult. Even though the court issued a 10-year sentence for murder, his participation in Russia's War on Ukraine was considered a mitigating circumstance.

Before being deployed, Alexey Aulov had run-ins with the law. In 2019 and 2020, he was issued administrative penalties for drunk driving. In 2022, he received a fine for theft.

According to court documents, Aulov and an unnamed female acquaintance visited a man. All of them drank alcohol. The soldier decided to drive with the woman to a nearby village, but noticed the tires of his Volkswagen Golf were flat. Aulov called his brother, who changed the tires on the car.

The soldier then drove while intoxicated, with his brother and an acquaintance in the car. Aulov stopped the car near a forest to urinate. The woman got out of the car with him, while his brother remained in the vehicle. A few minutes later, a commotion ensued, and the woman screamed for help, saying, "What have you done?" Aulov responded, "Close your eyes!" 

Aulov's brother became frightened, exited the vehicle, and ran away. A short while later, Aulov called his brother and asked to meet at his uncle's house. The soldier told him not to talk about what happened, because it would be bad for the family. Aulov asked his brother to help him bury the woman's body, but he refused.

Shortly afterward, police apprehended the murderer at his uncle's house. The former soldier attempted to hide in the cellar. The body of the woman was found 17 meters (56 feet) from the highway. 

According to Aulov, he and the woman had a conflict on the side of the road over an insult. Aulov pulled a utility knife and stabbed her 42 times. The woman was found with stab wounds in her heart, lungs, neck, and elsewhere.

A medical examiner determined that Aulov has an "emotionally unstable personality disorder, which is explained by the consequences of participating in military actions." Aulov confessed to committing the murder. The judge's decision read, "Participation in the [war] and the sincere repentance of the defendant are recognized by the court as circumstances mitigating punishment."

Women's rights groups in Russia have denounced a spike in domestic violence and femicide (murder motivated by gender) in soldiers returning from Russia's war in Ukraine.

You Might Also Like

  • February 10, 2024

"I Breathed a Sigh of Relief"

The war has increased cases of domestic abuse, yet in one instance things went in an entirely different direction.
In Loo of Drones
  • December 28, 2025

In Loo of Drones

Russia's new head of drone warfare has no military background, but lots of experience in plumbing.
Imprisoned for a Playlist
  • December 24, 2025

Imprisoned for a Playlist

A Moscow professor was sentenced to three years in prison for adding Ukrainian songs to his Vkontakte playlist.
Murderer Released or No?
  • September 18, 2025

Murderer Released or No?

Conflicting accounts emerge whether a notorious convicted murder has been released.
Returning Home to Kill
  • April 29, 2024

Returning Home to Kill

More than 100 persons have been killed by returning Russian soldiers since the beginning of Russia's War on Ukraine.
Violence Comes Home, Too
  • April 22, 2023

Violence Comes Home, Too

A man from Nizhny Novgorod fought in Ukraine. When he returned to Russia, he killed his wife.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955