Russian state media once cast a paratroop officer nicknamed "Executioner" as a war hero. Now Lt. Col. Konstantin Frolov stands accused of masterminding a scheme in which more than 30 soldiers and medics allegedly shot themselves to cash in on wartime injury payouts—and then kicked back a cut to commanders. Investigators say the grift drained about $2.6 million from the Defense Ministry. Frolov was said to have survived two serious and five minor wounds, earning four Orders of Courage and two medals for valor, Fox News previously reported. He's now struck a plea-style deal ahead of sentencing in military court on fraud, bribery, and weapons charges, per the New York Times.
Frolov, to be sentenced next month, insists his own shrapnel injuries came during battle. In an interview from detention, he admitted skimming money tied to injury payments but said it was done via bogus paperwork, not self-inflicted wounds. While he admitted taking weapons as "souvenirs," he claimed he's being used as a scapegoat for speaking out against a former Ministry of Defense official whom he accused of incompetence and to pressure his father, a former Roscosmos official who also faces corruption accusations. The case—which touches Frolov's elite 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade and former commander Artem Gorodilov, already linked to units accused of war crimes in Bucha—has intensified public anger over corruption and profit-making inside Russia's war effort.
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