A Russian soldier serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of 15 people who died after he started a fire in a nightclub in 2022, has signed a contract with the Defence Ministry to fight in Ukraine, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.
Stanislav Ionkin, 23, was found guilty of starting a fire at the Poligon nightclub in the city of Kostroma in central Russia on 5 November 2022 after he fired a flare gun several times inside the club following an altercation with other patrons.
The nightclub, which was later found not to have met legal fire safety standards, caught fire rapidly, killing a total of 15 people and injuring dozens more. Ionkin was sentenced to 20 years in a maximum security penal colony in March after he was found guilty of murder, intentionally causing bodily harm, destruction of property and hooliganism.
Prior to the incident, Ionkin had already fought in Ukraine, but was sent home after being wounded at the front. Ionkin is one of thousands of Russian prisoners who have been granted early release from prison after enlisting in the Russian military or one of Russia’s many mercenary organisations, such as the Wagner Group, to fight in Ukraine.