The unique case of the brutal Soldatov gang was published in the form of a book: it thundered throughout the country

“In the name of the RSFSR, December 5, 1978,” – these words begin the book-sentence on the case of one of the most famous gangs of the Soviet period. The representative of the Irkutsk Regional Court, Tatyana Milshina, lets me study this “criminal work.” The book just recently got here – it was donated to the Museum of the History of the Judicial System of the Angara Region by the Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, honorably retired judge of the Irkutsk Regional Court, Svetlana Kotkina. 45 years ago she judged the Soldatov gang. And she kept the verdict book for 45 years.

“The only original copy preserved,” says Tatyana Milshina. — In total, the book was published in an edition of 100 pieces. In general, neither before nor after this were sentences issued like this. In the case of Soldatov’s gang, they did this for several reasons. Firstly, there was too much interest in this story among many specialists – criminologists, judges, law enforcement officers. Secondly, students at specialized universities could be taught using the example of this verdict.

Soldatov’s gang was called one of the most brutal in the USSR. It consisted of 12 people, all of whom were related by family ties or had been friends since childhood. Over the course of ten years, they committed more than 100 (this is proven) crimes, including both very minor ones (for example, the theft of a milk can) and terrible ones (the murder of a mother with many children who worked as a watchman).

“Soldatov Leonid Leonidovich, born in 1936, Russian, non-partisan. With a 2nd grade education, married, with two children aged 9 and 12 years old, previously convicted, worked until 1974 in a carriage depot as an apprentice welder, unemployed after March 1974…”

It is difficult to imagine from such a description that this is the leader of a gang. The only thing that is alarming is the two classes of education. Soldatov was born into the family of a former prisoner, and his father was not particularly involved in his upbringing. More precisely, on the contrary, it was he who taught his son to steal.

Pleasant appearance and self-confidence allowed Leonid Leonidovich, despite illiteracy, to make acquaintances and even get married. And then he organized a real organized crime group and involved his wife Nina in it. She ended up in the dock along with the others. In total, judging by the verdict, there were 12 people in the gang, four of whom were women. And it should be noted that the Soviet investigation was quite humane – not a single one of the ladies ended up in the isolation ward; everyone was left under recognizance not to leave until the verdict.

“Soldatov, having previously been convicted of premeditated murder and released from prison in 1962, again took the path of committing serious and especially dangerous crimes. Soldatov systematically involved his wife’s relatives, as well as minors, in criminal activities. Thus, from 1963 to 1973, Soldatov committed thefts of state and personal property of citizens alternately with his wife’s relatives – Vladimir Dronin, Nikolai Dronin and Grigory Kozlov. In addition, during this period he involved minors Pudovkin and Savin in criminal activities, together with whom he committed robberies and malicious hooliganism. In 1973, he involved his wife’s nephew, minor Alexey Dronin. And in 1974, minors Shcherbin and Massalsky… On December 1, 1974, Soldatov created an armed gang to attack state and public organizations and individual citizens. The gang operated from December 1, 1974 to February 3, 1976.”

At the very beginning of the book-sentence it is described how many thefts Soldatov and his accomplices committed – 83. There is also a total amount of stolen goods – 67,925 rubles (this is not the whole amount, but only the part that was stolen before the creation of the gang as such). A lot of money, because at that time the average salary was 100–120 rubles, and a car cost about 5 thousand.

Well, what follows is a detailed description of each crime. On average, per page per “raid”.

“Before the creation of the gang (until 1974), Soldatov committed petty crimes,” says Tatyana. “And after that there were armed robberies and murders.”

Studying the first crimes.

Theft of a radio in a technical school office, theft of two bicycles, robbery of a cinema buffet (sweets, chocolate and toffee were taken), theft of a Record TV from the office of an incubation station, a safe from a bathhouse office, 104 kg of honey from a state farm warehouse, a walkie-talkie and a Druzhba chainsaw. from a construction trailer, a guitar from a poultry farm club, Chypre cologne and Red Moscow perfume from a hairdresser…

Reading a book-sentence is like traveling in a time machine to the USSR. Names of popular brands of food products, descriptions of state farms…

But let’s return to Soldatov. He took his wife’s nephew, who was then only 16 years old, with him to commit crimes. He went into more serious matters with adult relatives. Soldatov sold stolen goods to two female buyers – they ended up in the dock.

About halfway through the sentencing book, it becomes quite obvious that he did not disdain anything. He stole from patients in a psychiatric hospital, took everything out of school canteens… Over time, it was not enough for Soldatov to just steal, he wanted to leave some kind of “trace” behind him. The verdict tells how in village councils he damaged panels, cut posters, beat figurines, tore curtains, and destroyed furniture. Barbarism became more and more widespread.

At some point, the gang left… rotten eggs and their own excrement at one of the crime scenes. There was a feeling that they were already committing a crime for the sake of terrible fun, and not for profit.

The impunity that the gang members felt led to complete degradation. When Soldatov was detained, they found a jar with… female genital organs in his house. It turned out that he cut them out from a corpse in the morgue. I couldn’t answer the investigator’s question “why”. Apparently, simply because it seemed “terribly funny” to him.

— The criminal case was considered in the club named after. Dzerzhinsky city of Irkutsk, says Tatyana Milshina, representative of the Irkutsk Regional Court. — The process took almost a year! This is because there were a huge number of episodes, which were divided into two parts – those crimes that Soldatov committed before the creation of the gang, and those after. The total amount of damage caused was almost 200 thousand rubles. The list of crimes includes two brutal murders. One of them was committed in the village of Biliktuy, Usolsky district in 1976. In the local village council, the villains beat a woman watchman, a mother of seven children, to death with gas cylinders. The second victim was the head teacher of the school, father of four children, Vladimir Makhanov. He was driving along the road in a Zhiguli when a motorcycle passed him, the passenger of which was making insulting gestures. Unfortunately for Makhanov, he stopped. The bandits shot him.

In the end, there were about 40 volumes in the file. It was considered by a court chaired by Svetlana Kotkina. She had to determine the role and degree of participation of each member of this gang in all episodes. As she recalls, Soldatov behaved arrogantly and self-confidently. By the way, a medical and psychological examination carried out at the Moscow Institute named after V.P. Serbsky recognized him as “a globally criminal, antisocial person, extremely dangerous to society” (this is a quote from a specialist’s conclusion). As they say, this was the first forensic psychological examination in the USSR on banditry.

Svetlana Kotkina says that the process was emotionally difficult. An artist from the drama theater came to the meetings: he had to play the role of a bandit in one of the performances, and he wanted to observe the behavior of Soldatov and other bandits. So he had a stroke (as he himself admitted, due to the fact that he was strongly impressed by what was happening in the courtroom). And after some time he died…

“To find Leonid Leonidovich Soldatov guilty of committing crimes under Art. 77, 93-1, 218-1, 144…”

In the verdict, just listing the articles takes up almost half a page.

“…The final measure of punishment in the aggregate shall be determined in the form of the death penalty with confiscation of property.”

Alexei Dronin (he, by the way, was the initiator of the brutal murder of the watchman) was sentenced to 15 years. During the trial, he attacked his uncle-accomplice and almost strangled him with handcuffs.

The eldest nephew Vladimir is 14 years old. The buyers of stolen goods were not imprisoned; they were given a suspended sentence. The court sentenced the women (including Soldatov’s wife Nina) to 5 years in a general regime colony, but applied an amnesty in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Great October Revolution and released them from punishment.

Svetlana Kotkina took a month to write the verdict itself, and by hand. A year later, the leadership of the Irkutsk Regional Court decided to publish it as a separate book in the amount of 100 copies. The publication was distributed to law schools and city libraries as a teaching aid for the younger generation of lawyers and as a reminder to all residents of the region about this historical criminal trial.

And one of the first real Soviet sociopathic bandits, Leonid Soldatov, was shot in Irkutsk pre-trial detention center-1. The gang was forgotten for four decades, when suddenly…

“The investigative department for the Leninsky district of Irkutsk of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Irkutsk region has completed an investigation into a criminal case against a 65-year-old local resident. He is accused of committing a crime under Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Murder”), – this quote is from the press release of the Investigative Committee dated February 2, 2022. “It is known that in the 70s the man was part of Soldatov’s gang and was the leader’s right hand. The gang has more than 200 episodes of crimes, including several brutal murders. In 1978, the man was sentenced to 15 years in prison. After being released from prison, he came to the attention of law enforcement agencies several more times. In 2002, he was released after serving a sentence for committing murder.”

We are talking about Alexei Dronin, Leonid’s “right hand”. The murdered woman was a parking lot guard, a former employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service, and allegedly on this basis (he was once behind bars, she was guarding) Dronin had disagreements with her. The murder itself occurred in 2014, but the investigation was able to find the suspect only 8 years later. Dronin said that he was not involved in the crime and has long been trying to lead a respectable lifestyle. On May 18, 2022, the jury acquitted him.

This acquittal (short, only takes 5 minutes to read) can be found today on the justice system portal. Over the past 45 years, the country has changed, and so have the sentences. But the book remained in any case – as an edification to those who want to break the law.