Funeral Director, Ex-Convict in Urals Accused of SMO Recruitment Scam

In Krasnoturinsk, law enforcement is investigating two local residents suspected of recruiting SMO (Special Military Operation) fighters and misappropriating their payments. This was reported by E1.RU citing relatives of those allegedly forced to sign contracts.

Relatives of the men, who consider themselves victims, have raised a real stir in the city. They contacted the police and spread information in local public groups. Here is what is known about the situation.

«He»s a Meter Tall with a Cap«

Irina is worried about the fate of 26-year-old Lenya. He lived in her apartment and called her mom, although they are not officially related: the guy is an orphan. In 2024, he suddenly told her he was leaving for the SMO.

«He asked me if he could go hang out with a friend for the evening and didn»t come home. I called him—he didn«t answer. And he only came back on the second day. He says, »They got me drunk and strong-armed me.« It turns out the owner of the apartment where he was started talking him into it: »What are you doing, Lenya, sitting at home, you served in the army, you«re a man.» But he«s only about a meter tall with a cap, small and skinny, he looks about 14,» the woman recounts.

A few days later, a car came to her house for the young man. Irina recognized those in it—the local funeral service bureau director Dmitry and his friend Konstantin. They, the woman says, helped Lenya restore his lost passport and took him to Moscow.

«He spent a very long time going through the commission. He»s underweight, very short, and they hesitated for a long time whether to send him or not. But he submitted the documents, they issued him a card, which Konstantin immediately took and gave him another one to, as he said, «transfer money for smokes,»« the woman says.

Lenya waited several days for the medical commission«s decision. He lived on the assembly point grounds, was baptized, and made new acquaintances. He confessed to Irina that he regretted his decision to go to the front, but couldn»t back out, and then suddenly returned home for New Year«s.

«He was already going to sign the contract, they gave the medical okay, but there were guys standing there, already seasoned fighters. They looked at him and said, »Get out of here, kid, this isn«t a game for you.» They pushed him out of that line, and he left from there,« Irina recounts. »He called Konstantin, asked for money for the trip back. He sent him some.«

Lenya didn«t stay home long. After him, Irina says, the »recruiters« came and took him to a sawmill, which is also run by the funeral service director.

«They said he would work off everything they spent on him: taking him to Moscow, giving him money to get back. And practically didn»t even pay him a salary for half a year,« Irina says. »But he ran away from them, now we«re hiding him in another city altogether.»

«Does Everything for Profit»

Lenya filed a police report. According to locals, he is not the only one the accomplices convinced to sign a contract. They mainly targeted men without families or steady jobs, but with addictions. Konstantin«s own uncle was such a person in civilian life, and he also sent him to the assembly point.

«The uncle was drinking, he quickly talked the drunk uncle into it, took him to the sawmill. The uncle was out of touch for three days. Then he called from Moscow, said he had signed a contract. He gave the card to Dmitry to pass to his sister. Then it»s unclear who used that card, but four million rubles (about $44,000 at current rates) disappeared from it,« a relative of Konstantin said.

Konstantin«s cousin told E1.RU that he has a rich criminal past. According to the city court records, in 2022 he was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom for extortion, and before that had been convicted several times for theft.

«Kostya doesn»t like to work, never worked in his life. Does everything for profit. Either involved in scams or extortion,« Konstantin»s sister says.

We attempted to contact Konstantin and Dmitry, but they did not answer calls or messages in messengers. At the sawmill, from where the men allegedly took future fighters to the assembly point, they said they noticed nothing suspicious.

«That didn»t happen, we don«t believe it. Dmitry is on vacation now. When he returns—he»ll tell everything. When he returns—I don«t know,» a sawmill employee said.

Krasnoturinsk police told E1.RU that the investigation materials are in the city investigative department. The Sverdlovsk Oblast Investigative Committee declined to comment.

Previously, we wrote about how a group of Roma were detained for fraud with payments to SMO participants in Sverdlovsk Oblast. A Yekaterinburg woman said her son became a victim of a similar scheme.