Perm Commander Sentenced for Brutal Assault on Soldier
Photos showing signs of beatings were in the possession of one soldier«s parents.
The mother of a young soldier contacted the editorial office of 59.RU and reported that a commander from Perm brutally beat her son in a military unit in Balashikha, Moscow Region. Due to a ruptured spleen, the young man required emergency surgery, but the commander allowed him to seek medical help only seven hours later. The victim lost 2.5 liters of blood and nearly died.
Nikolai joined the army at the age of 18.
The soldier«s mother told 59.RU about the commander»s «heroics» and provided the editorial office with documents confirming the beatings. It turned out he had been assaulting servicemen for a long time.
A Rosgvardiya document concerning the soldier«s injury.
«Slipped and fell somewhere»
Signs of beatings were documented in correspondence.
Lyubov lives in Tomsk. Her son, Nikolai, is 23. During his school years, he practiced kickboxing and won prizes in championships. He then graduated from college as a merchandising expert. In 2021, he joined the army as a conscript, and in 2022, he signed a contract for service in the reconnaissance company of military unit No. 3419 of the ODON Rosgvardiya (Russian National Guard), located in Balashikha, Moscow Region. Nikolai is a scout-medic, has been on the frontline (SVO) several times, and is a combat veteran.
At the second trial, Kesar hid behind a piece of paper during a broadcast from the detention center.
ODON is the Separate Division of Operational Designation, also known as the Dzerzhinsky Division.
A beating in the same military unit No. 3419, filmed in the 1990s.
As Lyubov told 59.RU, on December 24, 2024, she was called from the unit and told that her son had undergone emergency surgery—his spleen was removed. According to the caller, Nikolai had «slipped and fallen somewhere» while on leave. She was surprised: what leave? On the day of the incident, her son had sent her a photo of himself in a bulletproof vest from the military unit. Later, her son himself told her what happened that day.
On December 23, 2024, Nikolai was not on any leave but was present at the formation of the unit«s personnel. In the ranks, he was talking to a fellow soldier, for which he received a reprimand from commander Ivan Yasyrev, call sign »Kesar« (Caesar). The servicemen returned to the barracks, from where the young man sent his mother that very photo, and then went to lunch. On the way, he met Kesar, who rudely reprimanded him for violating discipline and then struck him five times in front of others.
Nikolai felt a sharp pain in the left side of his abdomen, which intensified with each hour. He complained to Yasyrev, but for several hours, Yasyrev did not allow him to go to the medical station. Yasyrev«s own deputy intervened—he said the guy looked very pale, and only then did the commander allow him to go to the medical station. From there, Nikolai was sent for an X-ray within the military unit itself, but Yasyrev was against it and ordered Nikolai to take a taxi to a private medical center in the city of Balashikha.
At the medical center, Nikolai had an ultrasound, which showed intra-abdominal bleeding and a large accumulation of blood. Returning to the unit, the deputy commander who had accompanied Nikolai showed Yasyrev the ultrasound results. After reading them, the commander allowed the soldier to go to a military hospital. There, they removed what turned out to be a ruptured spleen. According to his mother, during the seven-hour wait for medical help, her son lost almost 2.5 liters of blood.
In the hospital, Nikolai did not dare to name the true cause of the injury—the beating. At the commander«s request, he said he had slipped and fallen.
While Nikolai was in the hospital after the operation, Yasyrev transferred 5,000 rubles (approx. $55 at current rates) to him «for needs and medicine.» But the serviceman sent the money back.
Beat them with a stool and rebar
While her son was in intensive care, the woman was called several times from the military unit and asked not to disclose the incident, promising they would handle it themselves. But on the same day, December 24, her ex-husband, Nikolai«s father, called her. He admitted that for two years, their son had been sending him photos and videos about constant beatings. Lyubov provided the editorial office with screenshots of the correspondence.
The parents contacted the families of other contract soldiers—it turned out Yasyrev had beaten soldiers before.
«For example, on October 8, 2023, Yasyrev beat up a squad of contract soldiers—SVO veterans—because he had an Android and the guys had iPhones,» the woman says. «And on October 18, when Yasyrev was celebrating his promotion to captain, while drunk, he would call the guys out to the center of the room and hit them on the head with a stool.»
After the beating with the stool, Nikolai had blood coming from his ear, his hearing in that ear worsened, and now he has hearing loss.
Once, the woman says, citing her son«s stories after he was out of intensive care, Kesar thrashed the entire squad in the washroom with a wooden stick—on the buttocks, legs, arms, and head. If someone couldn»t do push-ups, he would kick them in the stomach and laugh while doing it. He called the soldiers assholes, freaks, and moths. After such punishments, he could put the entire squad under barracks arrest until the bruises faded. And once, the commander forced a serviceman to eat eight cans of condensed milk in front of the entire squad. The man was vomiting, but the commander ordered him to continue. He also confiscated phones and checked if anyone was complaining in their messages.
«Not just for my son, but for all the guys»
According to Lyubov, the victims were afraid to take the matter to court for fear of consequences. After Nikolai«s case, two servicemen wrote statements to the investigator of the Balashikha District Military Investigative Prosecutor»s Office about the beatings, but soon retracted them themselves.
Nikolai and his parents decided to go further and, after going through all the authorities, succeeded in initiating a criminal case on two episodes—the incident of October 18, 2024, and the beating on December 23, 2024. «I was ready to pay for a lawyer for all the guys, but they were intimidated,» Lyubov told 59.RU.
As a result of numerous appeals, a trial was held on May 6, 2025.
«At the trial, I spoke not only for my son but for all the guys,» says Nikolai«s mother. »And the «hero» captain hid from me behind a piece of paper.«
Yasyrev was sentenced to 4 years in a penal colony with deprivation of ranks, and the court ordered the Rosgvardiya military unit to pay monetary compensation to the family.
Later, the military unit and Yasyrev himself filed an appeal. On October 9, 2025, it was considered, and the sentence was upheld.
They«ve beaten people here before
Ivan Yasyrev is from Perm. In a court statement, he wrote that he was born in 1988, grew up in a full family, and has two younger brothers. He studied at school No. 79 until the sixth grade and then at the Cadet Corps, practicing hand-to-hand combat and karate. Then he received education at the Academy of State Law and Management and in the «Jurisprudence» faculty. He served his conscript military service in the reconnaissance company of military unit No. 3419, where in 2013 he signed a contract. He took the call sign «Kesar.»
In 1996, the RTR television channel aired a program by Artyom Borovik called «Sovershenno Sekretno» (Top Secret) (18+) about hazing in this very unit. It can still be found on social networks. The video footage included in the report shows a scene where three intoxicated men line up the personnel and then start beating them.
At the time, the program caused public outcry. Based on its material, the Balashikha Garrison Prosecutor«s Office opened a criminal case on »Exceeding Official Authority with the Use of Violence« against three former servicemen of the unit. Two of them were sentenced to three years in prison, and one received a two-year suspended sentence and was released under amnesty.
But even after that, the media repeatedly wrote about cases with lethal outcomes or suicides in Balashikha. For instance, in April 2010, Life.ru reported that an 18-year-old soldier was found dead there during a morning inspection. In February 2017, the human rights organization «Soldiers» Mothers of St. Petersburg« reported that a young man had fallen from a window in military unit No. 3186 in Balashikha. And in April 2018, GTRK »Alania« did a report about an 18-year-old private found dead in a toilet.
«I want the commander»s relatives in Perm to learn what he did«
After the operation, Nikolai was not discharged but was given category B. He now serves in Tomsk.
Category «B» in the army means the soldier is of limited fitness for military service. He is enrolled in the reserves and remains liable for military service.
Lyubov says that after the spleen removal, her son«s health deteriorated. Since the spleen is part of the immune system, producing antibodies, filtering blood, and fighting viruses and bacteria, its removal increases the level of platelets in the blood, raising the risk of thrombosis. Nikolai became vulnerable to infections, and illnesses are severe.
«To compensate for the blood loss, during the operation they gave him someone else»s blood,« the young man»s mother clarified to 59.RU. «People with a spleen usually adapt, but my son»s body started a conflict.«
Now Nikolai also has immunodeficiency—meaning he has no immunity at all. Her son constantly has purulent tonsillitis, problems with lymph, and much more. On top of that, during the operation, his gallbladder was incorrectly positioned, causing problems with bile. And due to being beaten with rebar on the buttocks and legs, he now drags his leg.
The woman considers it important to publicize what happened in the military unit. This is necessary so that victims do not hide cases of abuse but can turn to the military prosecutor«s office and share with loved ones.
«It»s not hatred that burns me; I feel very bad now seeing how my son suffers,« the soldier»s mother says indignantly. «I want the commander»s relatives in Perm to learn what he did. I wouldn«t wish anyone to go through what I have. The worst moment was that the commander did not allow my son medical help for seven hours, and the blood loss was 2.5 liters. My son survived only because he is an athlete. Before, I was the mother of a champion; now I am the mother of a disabled person.»
The soldier«s mother provided the editorial office with documents confirming all the information—the decision of the Reutov Military Court dated November 11, 2025, the conclusion on the results of the investigation into the serviceman»s injury, the response from the Military Prosecutor«s Office regarding the check on complaints about the soldier»s beating, and medical conclusions.
Commander Ivan Yasyrev himself is not on social networks; we were unable to ask him why he beat his soldier. According to Nikolai«s mother, the ex-commander is now being taken to a penal colony near Nizhny Tagil.
We sent inquiries to the federal service of Rosgvardiya, the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the Main Military Prosecutor«s Office to find out if there had been other complaints about the actions of Captain Ivan Yasyrev. We also asked the agencies to present their position regarding his actions.
