Dozens of Russian troops shot themselves in a suspected fraud scheme to claim payouts for battlefield injuries, with the alleged scam costing the Russian army around £2 million, according to investigators.
Russia's Investigative Committee has focused on Lieutenant Colonel Konstantin Frolov, known by the call sign 'Executioner', a decorated officer once celebrated in Russian propaganda.
Frolov appeared in a Ministry of Defense video declaring he would not rest until Russia achieved 'victory' in Ukraine, while boasting of shrapnel wounds from a supposed close call.
However, the committee has alleged that those injuries were fabricated.
It claims Frolov and another commander from the elite 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade orchestrated a scheme in which more than 30 soldiers and medics deliberately shot themselves to qualify for compensation payments.
The alleged plot defrauded the army of 200 million rubles, equivalent to roughly £2 million, with the commanders reportedly taking a share of the money.
Frolov is now facing charges of fraud, bribery and weapons trafficking in a military court.
According to court filings, he has struck a pretrial deal that amounts to admitting guilt, a move that could reduce his sentence. He is expected to appear in court next month for sentencing.
Speaking to the New York Times from a detention centre in Moscow in 2025, Frolov did not deny involvement in a scheme to get money from injury payments but disputed the allegations of self-inflicted wounds.
He claimed it instead involved manipulated record keeping, and said soldiers in his unit claimed injuries took place in several incidents, leading them to receive more than one payout, although he said he did not view this as fraud.
Referring to separate weapons trafficking charges, he admitted taking some arms as 'souvenirs'.
Frolov further claimed he was being singled out while others escaped punishment, suggesting his prosecution was retaliation for criticising senior military leadership and accusing officials of sending troops into mass casualty 'meat grinder' assaults.
'They want to pin everything on us because we spoke out against the command, against those old men in charge,' he said.
Addressing the court in August 2024, the Colonel said: 'It turns out that my country, which spent the whole year calling me a hero, is now contradicting itself and keeping me in a cage.'
The 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade, based near Vladivostok, has also been linked to other corruption cases.
Under a decree signed by Putin in November 2024, Russian soldiers are entitled to 3 million rubles for severe injuries and 1 million rubles for minor ones.
A former commander, Colonel Artem Gorodilov, was arrested in 2024 on suspicion of 'large-scale fraud' and is being tried separately.
He previously led a regiment accused by Ukrainian prosecutors of committing at least 40 war crimes during the occupation of Bucha.
Under a decree signed by Putin in November 2024, Russian soldiers are entitled to 3 million rubles for severe injuries and 1 million rubles for minor ones, creating a financial incentive that investigators believe was exploited.
In testimonies from within the brigade, one paratrooper said commanders encouraged soldiers to exaggerate injuries and demanded a share of compensation payments.
He said: 'If you want a vacation, you need to be injured. The idea was: "We injure you, you give us the money -- a million -- and then you go on leave as a result of the injury and end up with two million." That's how they made money on it.'
Another soldier said that 'money still determines everything' in the Russian military, adding that the war had become a business for some.
At least 12 senior military officials and generals have been charged with corruption in recent years, alongside dozens of lower ranking officers.
Analysts say the case points to deep-rooted corruption within the military, with Pavel Luzin, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, describing an officer corps that is 'demoralized and decayed'.
Tatiana Stanovaya, of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, added: 'When people profit from tragedy -- from a war that is sacred to Putin -- it generates political fuel for other actors, including security officials seeking career advancement and those willing to push such cases forward.'
Despite his public image as a frontline hero, social media posts from Frolov's wife showed him attending weddings and concerts, as well as travelling across Russia during the war.
Frolov has suggested he is being held to a double standard, pointing out that some convicted criminals have been pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.
'I mostly had convicts under my command,' he said. 'People are forgiven for almost anything -- to make them go to fight in the war. But we were brought back from the front and sent to prison.'