Ex-police colonel convicted of murder heads to war zone

Former police colonel Mikhail Smirnov, convicted of murders, has been released from custody at the request of the military commissariat. On the night of January 22, he was taken to a military unit, and on Friday he departs for Voronezh for further dispatch to the special operation zone.

Smirnov left the Kresty pre-trial detention center not on the first attempt—investigative authorities opposed his release. The decision to release the accused and suspend the criminal proceedings was made by the Oktyabrsky District Court, and in April the city court upheld this ruling.

Back in June 2024, Smirnov signed a three-year contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense and is to assume an officer position in an assault unit. However, the initial petition to send him to service was rejected by the investigation, which was checking possible links between the defendant and Ukrainian intelligence services.

Mikhail Smirnov was arrested in May last year in connection with the explosion of a businessman«s car on the Turukhtanny Islands (in the Gulf of Finland) in June 1998, and he admitted his involvement. At the end of 2024, he also confessed to the murder of journalist Maxim Maksimov, who disappeared in 2004, and indicated the burial site of the body. In an interview, Smirnov stated that he eagerly awaits dispatch to the special military operation (SVO) and is ready to »beat the enemy in war mercilessly and without count.« At the same time, he noted that he sincerely repents only for the murder of Maksimov.