Shot in Borzya: The Deserter Hunter Who Tortured Families and Was Killed in Broad Daylight

From Russia with Fear · Dec 19, 2025 · 5m

In this episode of From Russia with Fear, we go to the small town of Borzya in Zabaykalsky Krai, where 34-year-old Konstantin Ektov was shot dead in the street. A former convict turned contract soldier, Ektov came back from the war and joined an operational group that hunted deserters — kidnapping their relatives, torturing them with electric shocks and taking bribes to “leave families alone.” One of those men, 31-year-old Vladimir Popov, says he paid Ektov not to be sent to the front, until a raid left his 80-year-old grandmother with a broken leg. Popov then waited for Ektov by the garages…