Russian ex-convict rapes and kills teenager in occupied Ukraine

Police have detained a Russian ex-convict who confessed to raping and murdering a 17-year-old resident of occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

The suspect, Andrey Kurbasov, was sent to fight in Ukraine from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for murder. The body of the victim, Anastasia V., was found near the village of Lyubymivka in the Luhansk region last Saturday, ASTRA Telegram channel reported.

Kurbasov told the police that he had raped Anastasia in a car, killed her, and then buried her body in the forest and covered it with rocks.

Kurbasov’s relatives told ASTRA that he had been recruited to fight in Ukraine about a year ago. Before he was sentenced for murder, he had also been charged with armed robbery, car theft and drug possession.

A law signed by Vladimir Putin in March grants immunity to prisoners convicted of crimes such as murder, theft and rape if they fight in the war in Ukraine.