A dispute inside a communal apartment in Saint Petersburg turns into a chilling murder plot. School accountant Galina Lysenko allegedly hired a homeless man to kill her neighbor Tatiana Tanik over a long-running housing conflict. But the supposed hitman chose to go to the police instead. In this episode, we explore how property disputes inside Russia’s communal apartments can escalate into violence — and how another pensioner in the Leningrad region tried a similar plan, only to be caught in a police sting operation. Two murder plots, two communal apartments, and one disturbing question: how far will people go for a few square meters of property?

In this episode of From Russia with Fear, we tell the story of two elderly pensioners who say they are living in constant fear inside their own apartment. Their son-in-law, Alexey Vasilevich, was once convicted of murder, later received a presidential pardon, and fought in the war as a Wagner mercenary. After returning from the front, he obtained a share of the family apartment and, according to the pensioners, began threatening and terrorizing them.

Igor Tedeev, who suffers from cancer, and his wife now hide in a small bedroom of their two-room apartment to avoid conflict. The couple say the man insults them, threatens violence, and has already been convicted once for beating his own wife. Police visits and complaints have not changed the situation, and criminal cases are repeatedly refused due to “lack of evidence.”

The pensioners say they even considered moving to a nursing home to escape the danger, but medical needs and high costs made that impossible. Now they remain trapped in the same apartment with a man they believe capable of violence at any moment.

This episode explores how pardoned convicts who fought in the war sometimes return home with a sense of impunity — and how families and neighbors can become the next victims.

In this episode of From Russia with Fear, two shocking crimes reveal the darker reality of violence and impunity in modern Russia. In Sverdlovsk region, a repeat offender murders his ex-wife — a nurse and mother of six daughters — inside the hospital where she worked. In Kemerovo region, businessman Alexey Mukharev kills a married couple to avoid repaying a debt that grew to five million rubles. The accused killer now hopes to escape prison by volunteering for the war. The episode explores the crimes, the victims, and the growing controversy around the mass recruitment of prisoners for military service.

A shocking medical fraud case has emerged in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. Doctors from a state hospital are accused of targeting elderly patients, convincing them they were about to lose their eyesight, and pushing them into expensive “urgent” surgeries at a private clinic. Many of those operations were unnecessary — and some patients lost their vision instead of saving it. At the center of the case is ophthalmologist Tatyana Sokolova, owner of the Vision Protection Center and head of the ophthalmology department at City Hospital No. 33. Investigators believe she and her father, hospital chief doctor Pavel Zubeev, created a system that redirected frightened pensioners from public clinics to their private operating rooms. Over several years, hundreds of elderly people were reportedly persuaded to undergo costly procedures that sometimes ended in blindness and serious complications. Police say large sums of cash — about 50 million rubles — were found during searches. Now more victims are coming forward, telling similar stories about diagnoses, pressure to operate immediately, and devastating consequences. This episode explores how trust in doctors was exploited, how the alleged scheme worked, and why many victims are still fighting for justice.

A brutal double murder in the Kemerovo region has shocked the local community. Alexey Mukhaev, a former convict and SVO veteran, killed a teacher and her husband over a debt dispute. After the murders, Mukhaev tried to cover his tracks, but his efforts failed. As the investigation unfolds, questions arise about the recruitment of criminals for the Special Military Operation and the justice system that allowed Mukhaev to escape prison once before. This case reveals the chilling consequences of violence, greed, and a broken system.

In this shocking episode of From Russia with Fear, we investigate two brutal domestic murders that reveal a disturbing trend. In Kazan, Dinar Mingaliev strangled his wife Dina Grigorieva and nearly killed their three-year-old son, breaking both of the child’s arms. In Volgograd, former sailor Sergey Orlov shot and dismembered his ex-wife Galina over a minor domestic argument. Both men, after committing horrific crimes, expressed a desire to avoid prison by signing military contracts and going to the front.

Why are accused killers asking for war instead of serving time? How does the system allow such requests before sentencing? And what message does this send to victims of domestic violence across Russia?

This episode explores the violence, the legal loopholes, and the growing concern that bloodshed on the battlefield is being presented as redemption for bloodshed at home.

In Syktyvkar, seven members of an organized criminal group were sentenced for large-scale fraud after posing as gas service workers and deceiving more than 2,000 residents — mostly elderly people. Wearing fake uniforms and showing forged IDs, they pressured victims into replacing perfectly working gas equipment with cheap parts, sometimes even creating gas leaks to frighten them. Investigators warned that their actions could have led to a deadly explosion, similar to the 2023 tragedy in Novosibirsk that killed 15 people. In this episode of From Russia with Fear, we examine how fear became a business model — and how close the Komi Republic came to catastrophe.

A 24-year-old SVO veteran from Kabardino-Balkaria was sentenced to 15 years for the rape and murder of 86-year-old Nina Selezneva in Nalchik. The court rejected claims of insanity and found him fully responsible for a crime marked by extreme brutality. But the story does not end with the verdict. As more former convicts and war veterans return home, journalists report over a thousand civilians killed or injured. In this episode, we examine the case of Rustam Nogmov and the wider pattern of violent crimes linked to returning SVO participants.

In Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod region, an elderly woman who was tortured for days by teenagers has died from her injuries. The attackers filmed more than 50 videos of the abuse, beating her with bats, shaving her head, and locking her inside her own home. Investigators later revealed that an adult woman allegedly encouraged the crime in order to seize the victim’s house.

In Ufa, a teenage gang calling itself “OPG Eighth of March” is on trial after terrorizing schoolchildren for years. One of their victims, 16-year-old Tikhon, suffered a broken spine after a brutal beating and may remain disabled for life. Authorities have reclassified the case as robbery, while other victims remain afraid to testify.

Two cities. Two horrifying cases. One growing pattern of youth violence filmed for social media — and a system that failed to stop it.

In Nizhny Novgorod, pensioner Andrey Rumyantsev believed a neighborhood boy had vandalized his car. Without evidence, he grabbed a shovel handle, attacked 10-year-old Makar Karpov on a playground, shattered his leg, and dragged him away while other children screamed. The boy was innocent. Doctors say he may never return to sports. Prosecutors demanded 15 years in prison — but the court gave Rumyantsev a suspended sentence. In this episode of From Russia with Fear, we examine violent self-justice, generational trauma used as an excuse, and a verdict that left a family fighting for real accountability.