Vladimir Putin has released a murderer who, three months after serving his sentence, strangled his girlfriend and kept her body in a barrel on his balcony.
Alexander Golubev, 24, was only in prison for three months when he was released to fight in the Ukrainian war.
But he has boasted that he is working as a military pen deliveryman “having fun” and away from the action.
The footage shows Golubev in a crime reenactment showing how he killed his long-time girlfriend, Viktoria Kurman, 23, a computer graphics designer.
When she disappeared, he posed as her and sent text messages to her mother, Olga Lishefay.
He was partying at his apartment with friends and informed them that Viktoria had abandoned him.
But after more than a month, Golubev disappeared and stopped sending messages.
Olga became deeply worried and distrustful. She went to the flat in Veliky Novgorod together with Golubev’s mother, Marina, and a friend of the couple.
Alexander Golubev (pictured) was only in prison for three months when he was released to fight in the Ukrainian war.
He has boasted of working as a military penman ‘having fun’ and staying away from the action
Golubev strangled his girlfriend and kept her body inside a barrel (pictured) on his balcony.
They found it a mess, with a smell that made them miserable, coming from the green plastic barrel on the balcony that had been glassed in to provide more living space as part of the apartment.
Sickening footage shows Olga using a knife to open the barrel, cutting through many meters of adhesive tape used to hermetically seal the lid.
“I looked inside and saw a black plastic bag covered in white (baking powder),” Olga said.
‘I called the police and explained that my daughter was missing and that a barrel was found on the balcony. The operatives arrived. They (removed) the lid completely, opened the first (plastic) bag.
“I was standing nearby and saw hair.
‘It was clear it was Vika (Viktoria), because the ends of her hair stood out. It was her hair, I recognized it.
The police took the barrel away and the body was confirmed to be hers.
The unemployed Golubev was found and arrested five days later, and at his trial in April he was sentenced to nine and a half years in a strict regime penal colony after fully confessing to killing Viktoria.
Unemployed Golubev was found and arrested five days later
He admitted to strangling his girlfriend out of jealousy
The police took the barrel away and the body was confirmed to be hers.
Fraud charges (theft of cash from Viktoria’s savings) have been dropped
If he is still alive, Golubev will be released after completing military service and his murder conviction will be expunged from his criminal record.
He told investigators: “I was afraid she would find out I was cheating on her and at that point I just didn’t know what to do.”
He used the strap of her bag to strangle her and stuffed a sock in her mouth to “get rid of the wheezing.”
He then tied her with duct tape to give her body a more “comfortable” shape to fit into a barrel used to store food or drink, he confessed.
Three months later, the tragic Viktoria’s mother was shocked to learn that she was no longer in jail and that her whereabouts were now a “state secret.”
But it soon became clear that he had been sent to war under a plan by Putin to release prisoners to fight.
He messaged Alexandra, Viktoria’s friend, telling her that he “hoped he was killed by a missile, pretending to be sorry (for killing Viktoria). Honestly, I almost felt sorry for him at first.
“And then he wrote to his friend saying that he didn’t care, that he was having a lot of fun (in the military), that he was in a safe and quiet place doing his paperwork.”
If he is still alive, Golubev will be released after completing military service and his murder conviction will be expunged from his criminal record.
Fraud charges (theft of cash from Viktoria’s savings) have been dropped.