Bastrykin Highlights Saratov's Emergency Housing, Water, and Safety Issues

Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR), often pays attention to complaints from Saratov and the region. The latest such case became known earlier. We have selected several high-profile stories that Alexander Bastrykin has been interested in recently.

In October of last year, residents of house No. 19 on Lermontov Street in Saratov appealed to the Investigative Committee. The building has no gas and no heating. Moreover, in the same month, the former head of the Volzhsky district was found guilty of abuse of power. He did not ensure that the houses were inspected and declared unsafe. He also signed the inspection report for house No. 19 on Lermontov Street, even though the work performed did not meet the technical requirements. As a result of the official«s actions, the apartment buildings were not declared unsafe and were not included in the current resettlement program for citizens.

In August 2025, when passions were flaring around the construction of a school in the «Territory of Childhood» park in the Leninsky district of Saratov, Bastrykin paid special attention to the actions of police lieutenant colonel Gennady Boldyshev. Meeting with protesters against the development of the green zone, he said that he would take all necessary measures to disperse the crowd, and «if necessary, shoot everyone.»

The police, when the situation reached the federal level, reported that they had conducted an inspection but found nothing terrible in their colleague«s words.

Bastrykin also drew attention to the water supply problem in Balashov. Local residents reported that the existing treatment facilities, built in 1971, are heavily worn out. They only clean large fractions, and everything else ends up in the Khoper River. And water is taken from it for the entire city of Balashov.

Moreover, an underground water intake was built 15 years ago, but due to a design error, it was not put into operation.

The situation around Saratov resident Islam Bichigov, who is accused of using violence against a traffic police officer, did not escape the attention of the ICR chairman. Recall that on 26 November, police stopped a Ford Mustang without license plates in the center of Saratov. When the driver was being issued a citation, he hit a police officer. Moreover, a month before that — on 22 October — the same inspector stopped Bichigov on Dzerzhinsky Street, who was driving the same foreign-made car. He refused to present documents at the inspector«s request and then began to insult and threaten him.

As a result, Bichigov became a suspect in a criminal case and is now in a pre-trial detention center.

In addition, Bastrykin demanded a report from Dmitry Kostin in connection with the attack of a stray dog on a 27-year-old Saratov woman.

At the end of November, a stray dog attacked the woman and bit her face. Doctors concluded that the upper lip could not be stitched back on and that plastic surgery would be required. Then the local investigative committee also initiated a criminal case on negligence.

Moreover, in the Leninsky district on 13 October, a pack of stray dogs bit a local resident on Lunnaya Street when she was taking out the trash.

The woman required medical assistance, including rabies vaccinations, and now she is afraid to leave the house. After the attack on the 27-year-old city resident, the head of the Leninsky district administration, Igor Molchanov, reported that the dog was caught on 1 December. He promised that it would be sterilized.

«For safety reasons, return to the previous habitat is not planned: the animal will be sent to a shelter,» the official assured.

Later it turned out that in Saratov, starting from 2023, funding for catching stray animals has been steadily decreasing. Over two years, the amount of funds fell from 31.5 million rubles (about $350,000 at current rates) to 14.5 million rubles (about $161,100), said Tatiana Rykhlova, acting deputy head of the Saratov administration for improvement and development of the urban environment, to 164.ru.

The attack by Garik Nersesyan on an 8th-grade student did not escape Bastrykin«s attention. Recall that in early November, the man burst into a computer science classroom, swore at a 13-year-old teenager, and hit him in the face several times. The reason for this behavior was that the child had bullied his son. After the video of the attack on the child appeared online, Saratov investigators initiated a criminal case on charges of hooliganism and death threats.

By the end of November, the investigation of the case, which Bastrykin was monitoring, was completed. However, whether it has been transferred to court is not yet known.