Killing Exposes Hunt for War Deserters

On November 11, 2025, 34-year-old Konstantin Ektov, a former participant of Russia's War on Ukraine, was shot dead in Zabaikalsky Krai. According to the independent outlet Lyudi Baykala, Ektov was involved in tracking down AWOL Russian servicemen. Residents said they believe Ektov was killed because he used physical force against deserters and their relatives, and even allegedly extorted bribes from them.

Ektov was killed in broad daylight in the small town of Borzya. The attacker shot him with a smoothbore firearm and fled by car. Later, the suspected killer sent several videos to the newsroom of the local outlet Chita.ru. In the recordings, the man identified himself as Vladimir Popov, a serviceman born in 1994. Popov said he had paid Ektov to ensure he would not be sent back to Ukraine and that his family would not be targeted. He claimed the situation changed after Ektov came to his home during a raid and broke the leg of his mother. Popov was later detained by police.

In online comments responding to reports of the killing, many residents of Zabaikalsky Krai described Ektov as a "rear-line rat" who "humiliated our brothers," adding that "he got what he deserved."

According to Lyudi Baykala, violent raids against Russian servicemen gone AWOL have indeed taken place in the region. For instance, search groups reportedly operated in the villages of Trubachevo, Novoshirokinskoye, and Ushmun. Several families later filed police complaints.

In Novoshirokinskoye, search groups were looking for a serviceman named Alexei, who signed a contract with the Defense Ministry in 2024 after completing his conscription service. He was deployed to fight and later suffered a severe head wound. At the end of the year, authorities allegedly attempted to send him back to the front without a medical review. Alexei fled to his home village, where his parents hid him.

On the morning of November 2, unidentified men in civilian clothes abducted Alexei’s father, beat him, and subjected him to electric shocks while demanding information about his son’s whereabouts. Residents of other villages have also reported that unknown men abducted and tortured relatives and acquaintances of deserters.

In reports about Ektov’s killing, he was often described as a military police officer. However, several people who knew him told Lyudi Baykala that he served in an operational search group attached to military unit No. 06705. In practice, such "searchers" are contract soldiers tasked with locating other contract soldiers.

Ektov repeatedly told friends that he "dragged deserters out of back alleys and remote villages." In private conversations, he did not deny using force. His friend, Konstantin Milochkin, said Ektov believed "they wouldn’t understand otherwise."

According to Milochkin, Ektov said deserters could show up with grenades or loaded weapons. 

Lyudi Baykala reported that Ektov went to the war in 2023. Before that, he worked as a plumber in Magadan and had spent at least eight years in prison.

He had convictions for robbery, car theft, theft, and drunk driving. Magadan residents interviewed by journalists said they could not recall anything positive about him. One woman, upon learning of his death, said: "You’re not supposed to say this, but it’s good – he won’t harm anyone else."

According to Lyudi Baykala, Ektov fought in an assault unit as a machine gunner but was later removed from combat duty. He told friends his knee menisci were deteriorating from carrying a heavy machine gun, leaving him barely able to walk. Despite this, his contract was open-ended. He was first sent to a hospital and later transferred to the Zabaikalsky Krai, where he joined the search group.

Popov, who confessed to killing Ektov, also had prior convictions. According to Lyudi Baykala, a man matching Popov's identification information had been convicted of armed robbery, extortion, and kidnapping. Along with four accomplices, Popov attacked a businessman who was transporting a large sum of money to a bank. In late 2022, the same group kidnapped a 19-year-old participant in the war in Ukraine, took him to an area near a city cemetery, beat him, and extorted money from him.

Popov likely went to war directly from prison, according to the outlet. It is unclear when he left his unit without authorization. In one of his recorded statements, Popov said that, at the front, he and others were forced to ride motorcycles directly toward Ukrainian machine-gun positions without artillery support.

One contract soldier from military unit No. 06705 anonymously stated that Popov paid Ektov R950,000 (nearly $12,000) to avoid being sent back to Ukraine. Another serviceman from the same unit said bribery was an open secret in Borzya.

"Everyone knows the price list and what costs how much," he said. "I sent R6,000 ($75) to Kostya Ektov for vodka. He took R10,000 ($125) from me so I could live in an apartment in Chita instead of the barracks. And I paid R40,000 ($500) so they’d let me go on leave. They didn’t want to let me go. After that, the amounts just kept going up."

Ektov was buried in Magadan. His obituary described him as "a hero."

Residents of the Gazimuro-Zavodsky district told Lyudi Baykala that search groups have not appeared there since Ektov’s killing. Victims of torture believe the reason is fear.

However, the pursuit of deserters has not stopped. On November 23 in Chita, search officers forced their way into the home of 32-year-old Marina Smolkova while searching for her former classmate and friend, Pavel Yermolaev, who left his unit more than a year ago.

At the time, Smolkova’s husband and their seven children were in the apartment. One of the men reportedly pulled out a handgun at the entrance, chambered a round, and aimed it at Smolkova’s husband. Another entered the apartment and began checking rooms. None of the men showed identification, and all were dressed in civilian clothing.

The Smolkovs initially planned to file a police complaint, but later decided against it. “I suggested we do this through journalists,” Marina Smolkova said. "So everyone can see what kind of people surround us."