Russian Commander Organized Widescale Fraud Based on Fake ‘Action’ Videos

Konstantin Frolov, former head of a special operations group within Russia’s 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigade, was sentenced on Oct. 27 to 21 years in a maximum-security penal colony and stripped of his rank of lieutenant colonel, according to the Russian media channel Kommersant. Frolov was arrested in June 2024 and was expected to accept a plea bargain in exchange for giving evidence against his superior officer, Col. Artem Gorodilov, but he retracted his confession and was subsequently charged in his own right.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The charges against him included illegal weapons trafficking, bribery, and fraud by way of claims for self-inflicted wounds for which he was found guilty. Konstantin Frolov is the son of Oleg Frolov, former deputy director general for the Roscosmos state armaments program who was charged with large scale fraud in December 2023. An outrageous scheme to defraud the system Frolov, whose callsign was “Executioner,” brought together a group of more than 30 soldiers operating in the Ukrainian combat zone with the sole purpose of embezzling money and to build up their reputation as “heroes” of Putin’s “special military operation” – Moscow’s name for the war in Ukraine. The plan involved staging and videoing scenes of combat – some of which were aired on Russian state TV – from which the group could obtain receive state awards for “heroism” and compensation for the “wounds” they received. Other Topics of Interest ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 27, 2026 War in Ukraine - Latest update, key takeaways and map from the Institute for the Study of War on October 27, 2026. In February 2023, one channel reported on a “unique group of snipers” led by “Executioner,” who claimed to have been wounded seven times who, “out of honor,” declined to be withdrawn and continued to serve. Some of the battlefield depictions included the December 2023 simulation of a Ukrainian artillery strike by detonating pre-prepared explosive charges near their vehicles and a fake drone attack in January 2024. On more than one occasion, according to Russian military investigators Frolov and the gang members faked wounds inflicted during “combat.” They were said to have used anesthetics and scalpels, assisted by medics, to cut themselves on various parts of their bodies into which they implanted metal fragments to simulate wounds resulting from combat. On several occasions it was alleged that “Executioner” and others in the group shot each other at close range to support their claims. Ironically Frolov’s worst injury was accidental. During the filming of one staged assault by the group in May 2024 he threw a grenade into a dugout which bounced out and exploded at his feet causing “non-life threatening” wounds. Weapons trafficking too Frolov was said to have set up the “Saturn-Tuman VP” and “Bison VP” groups through which they acquired new combat drones for “testing.” Among the charges made against the Frolov group were the illegal acquisition of captured weapons and ammunition, which include heavy and light machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, TNT explosive block and detonators. Some of the weapons are believed to have made their way to criminal gangs or were used in the group’s simulations, while others were gifted to high-ranking officials and Moscow’s Patriot Park military-themed culture and recreation complex. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.