A Ukraine war veteran who is believed to have murdered his wife in the city of Chelyabinsk earlier this week has been found, local law enforcement authorities said on Friday, two days after police reportedly launched a manhunt.
The Chelyabinsk region branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry said police officers arrested a 37-year-old man in the same neighborhood as the apartment where the body of his wife was discovered on Tuesday.
“The suspect was found and arrested in the Traktorozavodsky district after officers received an anonymous tip,” the Interior Ministry said in its first official statement about the murder.
Local media published a video of what was said to be police officers arresting the man, who was earlier identified as Sergei Moskalenko, a veteran of Russia’s war against neighboring Ukraine.
Given the man’s background as a soldier, military investigators may take over the case against him. However, the Interior Ministry’s statement on Friday only noted that “legal proceedings are currently underway,” without providing further details.
Earlier this week, local media cited a leaked police alert stating that Moskalenko is thought to have strangled his 37-year-old wife Ksenia. According to that report, the man has past criminal convictions and previously served a nine-year prison sentence for murder.
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