Denis Zubov, a notorious serial killer, was sentenced to 21 years in a maximum-security jail for the brutal murder of three individuals over a nine-month period. Despite the heinous nature of his crimes, Zubov was secretly released and eventually died in Ukraine in April 2023. His release was part of a wave of freed convicts, allegedly pardoned by Vladimir Putin to bolster his forces, including 5,000 violent criminals recruited to fight for Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine.
The 41-year-old Zubov began his killing spree in 2013 after discovering that his ex-girlfriend, Natalia Ravdina, was dating another man. Enraged by jealousy, Zubov murdered the man, as well as a 73-year-old woman, in a brutal and gruesome manner. Despite these horrific acts, Zubov managed to reconcile with Ravdina before ultimately murdering her and going into hiding for two years.
His story takes a dark turn when it is revealed that he died in 2023, shortly after being allowed to fight in Ukraine in exchange for a pardon. This practice, used to recruit reservists, was part of Putin’s efforts to bolster his forces, with the release deals requiring the convicts to fight for six months in exchange for clearing their criminal records.
The circumstances surrounding Zubov’s release and subsequent death in Ukraine shed light on a troubling trend of using pardoned criminals as soldiers, raising questions about the ethical implications and potential repercussions of this practice on both a domestic and international level. As the details of Zubov’s pardoning and subsequent fate continue to emerge, it is evident that the complexities of this story have far-reaching implications.