Latest news with #InvestigativeCommittee
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Daily Record
'Granny Ripper' boiled dismembered friend's head in saucepan after 'disagreement'
Tamara Samsonova was arrested in 2015 after CCTV footage showed her carrying bags from her apartment block in the middle of the night – and she was soon dubbed the 'Granny Ripper' A former hotel worker swiftly earned the macabre moniker 'Granny Ripper' after being suspected of serial killings and cannibalism. Tamara Samsonova, a former hotel worker, was arrested a decade ago after her abhorrent crimes came to light. The then 68-year-old was caught on grainy CCTV footage disposing of large plastic bags from her flat in the dead of night, with one clip showing her carrying a saucepan allegedly containing a human head. These were believed to be the remains of Valentina Ulanova, 79, who met a gruesome end. We delve into the disturbing case that left Russia reeling when the grisly details surfaced in 2015. It was the Russian Investigative Committee that brought this chilling case before the courts, naming Samsonova as the accused murderer. According to the committee, the victim perished "on the spot" after Samsonova laced her salad with over 50 sleeping pills in July 2015 and then dismembered her. The investigators issued a statement saying: "Then, in order to conceal the committed crime, she dismembered the body of her victim and placed the parts in different places near the apartment block." Hailing from St Petersburg, Russian-native Samsonova reportedly used a handsaw to carve up the elderly woman. The Investigative Committee pointed to "personal hostile relations" as the motive, stating that the murderer had a "conflict with her friend". Following the dismemberment, she is believed to have boiled the head in a pot. Samsonova, who was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, became notorious for her courtroom antics, including blowing a kiss to journalists. She confessed to the murder of Valentina, yet haunting diary excerpts suggested she might have killed up to 11 others, possibly counting her husband and mother-in-law among them, both of whom disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Due to her poor health, uncooperative behaviour, and the lack of additional human remains, it became infeasible to bring further charges against her. A bone-chilling admission in her diary stated: "I killed my tenant Volodya, cut him to pieces in the bathroom with a knife, put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away in the different parts of Frunzensky district." One account published in The Sun quoted a source as remarking: "We may never know the extent of this granny's killings." Reports indicated that Samsonova found sinister inspiration in Andrei Chikatilo, a prolific murderer responsible for over 50 killings from 1978 to 1990. A neighbour, who had known her intimately for 15 years, noted her fixation with Chikatilo, saying: "She gathered information about him and how he committed his murders." At her court appearance for Valentina's murder, Samsonova told the judge: "I am guilty and I deserve to be punished." The elderly suspect, then aged 78, displayed an eerie expression of joy as she clapped her hands and smiled upon hearing she would remain in custody. Beyond her morbid crimes, she held a deep interest in black magic and astrology. In 2017, she was sentenced to life in a mental hospital, with the judge ruling her mental illness absolved her from being responsible for Valentina's killing. This all but confirmed that it will never be truly known how many people died at the hands of Samsonova.
Russia Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Foreign mercenary sentenced for role in Kursk incursion
A Russian court has sentenced Colombian national Pablo Puentes Boorghes to 28 years in prison for fighting on behalf of Ukraine during its armed incursion into Kursk Region. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of 1 million rubles ($12,700). In a statement to the news outlet RBK on Tuesday, Russia's Investigative Committee said that Boorghes has been found guilty of mercenarism, terrorism, and several other criminal offenses, including illegal border crossing, arms trafficking, and the unlawful possession of firearms. According to investigators, Boorghes voluntarily joined Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade in late 2024 and participated in the incursion into Russia's border region for material compensation. The Investigative Committee stated that the Colombian took part in coordinated actions 'to intimidate the population, cause significant property damage, and destabilize the activities of government bodies,' adding that he also threatened to 'use firearms against the civilian population and blocked the territory of the Sudzhansky District of Kursk Region.' Russian forces captured Boorghes near the village of Alexandria during clashes with Ukrainian units. Investigators said he admitted his guilt in full during pretrial proceedings. According to the verdict, the Colombian will spend the first five years of his sentence in prison, with the remainder in a maximum-security penal colony. Authorities have also confiscated over 230,000 rubles ($2,900) from Boorghes for the benefit of the state. Russia has repeatedly prosecuted foreign nationals for fighting for Ukraine. In March, a British citizen, James Scott Rhys Anderson, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on similar charges after being captured in the same region. Officials claimed Anderson had entered Russia alongside Ukrainian troops and committed crimes against civilians. Moscow has consistently warned that any non-Ukrainians serving in Kiev's military will be regarded as mercenaries and criminals and will not be covered by the Geneva Convention protections usually granted to combatants. The last estimate on mercenary casualties in Ukraine was given in December by the acting head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Yulia Zhdanova. She reported, citing Defense Ministry data, that some 15,000 foreign fighters from 110 countries had entered Ukraine since the conflict began, mostly citizens of Poland, the US, and Georgia. Nearly 6,500 of them have since been killed in action, according to Zhdanova.
Russia Today
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Foreign mercenary sentenced for invading Russia's Kursk Region
A Russian court has sentenced Colombian national Pablo Puentes Boorghes to 28 years in prison for fighting on behalf of Ukraine during its armed incursion into Kursk Region. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of 1 million rubles ($12,700). In a statement to the news outlet RBK on Tuesday, Russia's Investigative Committee said that Boorghes has been found guilty of mercenarism, terrorism, and several other criminal offenses, including illegal border crossing, arms trafficking, and the unlawful possession of firearms. According to investigators, Boorghes voluntarily joined Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade in late 2024 and participated in the incursion into Russia's border region for material compensation. The Investigative Committee stated that the Colombian took part in coordinated actions 'to intimidate the population, cause significant property damage, and destabilize the activities of government bodies,' adding that he also threatened to 'use firearms against the civilian population and blocked the territory of the Sudzhansky District of Kursk Region.' Russian forces captured Boorghes near the village of Alexandria during clashes with Ukrainian units. Investigators said he admitted his guilt in full during pretrial proceedings. According to the verdict, the Colombian will spend the first five years of his sentence in prison, with the remainder in a maximum-security penal colony. Authorities have also confiscated over 230,000 rubles ($2,900) from Boorghes for the benefit of the state. Russia has repeatedly prosecuted foreign nationals for fighting for Ukraine. In March, a British citizen, James Scott Rhys Anderson, was sentenced to 19 years in prison on similar charges after being captured in the same region. Officials claimed Anderson had entered Russia alongside Ukrainian troops and committed crimes against civilians. Moscow has consistently warned that any non-Ukrainians serving in Kiev's military will be regarded as mercenaries and criminals and will not be covered by the Geneva Convention protections usually granted to combatants. The last estimate on mercenary casualties in Ukraine was given in December by the acting head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Yulia Zhdanova. She reported, citing Defense Ministry data, that some 15,000 foreign fighters from 110 countries had entered Ukraine since the conflict began, mostly citizens of Poland, the US, and Georgia. Nearly 6,500 of them have since been killed in action, according to Zhdanova.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia sentences 2 Azov fighters to over 20 years in prison
A Russian court has sentenced two Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov Brigade to more than 20 years in prison for allegedly killing civilians in the city of Mariupol in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, Russia's Investigative Committee announced on June 9 on Telegram. Russia has held a number of sham trials with Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) over the past years, focusing in particular on Azov fighters captured during the war. Azov has been demonized by Russian propaganda for years. Russian authorities accuse sniper Ruslan Orlov and paramedic Artem Novikov of shooting three civilians in Mariupol in April 2022. The Russian court sentenced Orlov to 26 years in a strict regime colony, and Novikov to 24 years. Ukraine has not yet commented on the Russian Investigative Committee's statement. Russia's months-long siege of Mariupol between February and May 2022 reduced the port city to a landscape of rubble and killed thousands. In the meantime, the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance at the onset of the all-out war, as Ukrainian soldiers valiantly defended the plant under the Russian siege. On May 16, 2022, Azovstal defenders were ordered to surrender to the encircling Russian forces after nearly two months of constant bombardment of the besieged plant. The evacuation from Azovstal ended on May 20, 2022, with Ukrainian soldiers transferred to a penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, now infamous as the site of the mass killing of Azov fighters. On July 28, an explosion killed 54 Ukrainian prisoners of war and injured over 150 at the Olenivka penal colony. Many of them were members of Azov. While hundreds of Azov fighters have been released since 2022, hundreds more remain in captivity. Read also: War's unseen isolation: A Ukrainian officer's story of survival and hope We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Putin stays silent on Ukraine's drone attack that hit 41 Russian bombers, caused $7 billion in damage
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not mention Ukraine's recent drone strikes that destroyed dozens of Russian strategic bombers during a lengthy televised cabinet meeting on June 4 — despite the attack marking one of the most significant blows to Russia's military infrastructure since the start of the full-scale war. The strikes, part of Ukraine's covert Operation Spiderweb, were carried out on June 1 using first-person-view (FPV) drones that had been smuggled into Russia and hidden in trucks. The drones successfully targeted four major airfields — Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo, and Belaya — used by Russia's long-range aviation fleet, responsible for regular missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that 41 aircraft were hit, including heavy bombers and rare A-50 spy planes, causing an estimated $7 billion in damage. Many of the bombers were destroyed beyond repair, while others may take years to restore. President Volodymyr Zelensky and SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk personally oversaw the operation. On June 4, the SBU released high-resolution footage of the strikes, highlighting the precision and scale of the operation. On June 4, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the incident, saying Putin had been informed and that Russia's Investigative Committee had launched a probe. 'The president received information about the incident online,' Peskov told reporters. 'There was also a corresponding statement from the Defense Ministry.' Despite the scale of the attack, Putin avoided addressing the matter during his first public appearance following the strikes. Instead, he focused on other incidents, including a railway bridge bombing that killed at least seven and injured over 100 people in the Bryansk region, which he blamed on Ukraine. The Kremlin's silence stands in stark contrast to celebrations in Kyiv, where Zelensky called the operation 'brilliant' and said it dealt 'significant losses — entirely justified and deserved.' We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
