Ex-major from Nalchik sentenced to 11 years in prison for unlawfully issuing state awards
A military court in Nalchik has sentenced the head of the military police in Kabarda–Balkaria, Major Vladimir Puzenko, to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty of falsifying ‘acts of valour’ and the combat wounds of soldiers in order to secure state awards for them.
Puzenko’s case was submitted to the Nalchik Garrison Military Court on 17 November. He was charged with two counts of illegal arms trafficking and with fraud. He was sentenced on Tuesday after the case was examined in a single hearing.
According to the court findings, in December 2023, Puzenko falsified evidence of a supposed ‘act of valour’ by a group of soldiers who were subsequently unjustifiably nominated for state awards and unlawfully received monetary payments. These soldiers are regarded by the investigation as ‘members of a criminal group’, the court’s press service reported.
From December 2023 to May 2024, Puzenko repeatedly helped soldiers who had deliberately injured themselves to register those injuries as combat wounds and obtain payments for them. The total damage caused to the state exceeds ₽210 million ($2.7 million), according to a post on the court’s official page on the social network VKontakte.
The charges related to illegal arms trafficking concern a 1910 ‘Maxim’ machine gun which Puzenko obtained in a combat zone. After discovering the gun near frontline positions, he appropriated it, transported it, and kept it unlawfully for some time before giving it to another person. The court regarded the appropriation and storage of the weapon as illegal possession, and the gift as distribution.
Puzenko was sentenced to 11 years in a general-regime penal colony, stripped of his military rank of ‘major’, and of his state awards — the Order of Courage and the medals ‘For Bravery’ and ‘For Saving the Dying’. He must also pay the Defence Ministry more than ₽207 million ($2.6 million) in compensation for the damage caused.
As of publication, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Puzenko himself, nor his lawyers have made any public statements regarding the ruling.
In 2017, the Yekaterinburg Military Garrison Court sentenced Gennady Yashchuk, head of the Central Military District Military Police, and his deputy Kirill Kozhevina to three and one years in prison, respectively, for extorting money from military personnel in the district command. However, the officers were released from serving their sentences under an amnesty.
Elizaveta Chukharova
