“Sasha the Soldier”, who killed Solonik, leaves the colony

The famous killer “Sasha the Soldier”, who served 24 years for a series of contract killings, leaves the colony near Nelidovo. He was involved in the murder of Russia’s most famous killer, Alexander Solonik, in Greece and personally strangled his girlfriend Svetlana Kotova.

Alexander Pustovalov, nicknamed “Sasha the Soldier,” is so famous that a large article is dedicated to him in Wikipedia and one of the episodes of the documentary series “Sentenced for Life.” He belonged to the Orekhovskaya organized crime group and was responsible for dozens of contract killings. He was arrested on November 19, 1999 and sentenced by the Odintsovo City Court, Moscow Region, to 24 years in prison in a maximum security penal colony.

He served his sentence in FKU IK-9 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Tver region near Nelidovo. The sentence expires in November 2023. On September 21, 2023, the Nelidovsky Interdistrict Court of the Tver Region considered an administrative case on the administrative claim of IK-9. The court decided to place administrative supervision over Pustovalov for a period of 3 years and impose a number of administrative restrictions.

From the publication Trial in the Solonik case

At the end of 1996, Butorin began to fear that the actively wanted and knowledgeable Solonik, who, after escaping from Matrosskaya Tishina, was hiding in Greece, where he lived in a luxurious villa with his friend Svetlana Kotova (Miss Russia 1996 finalist), could tell a lot about “orders”. To eliminate Solonik, a plan was developed; Butorin turned to the leaders of the Medvedkovskaya organized crime group, brothers Andrei and Oleg Pylev (“Maloy” and “Sanych”) for help. Their task was to have the killer Alexei Sherstobitov (“Lyosha the Soldier”), who was hiding in Greece at that time, install listening equipment in Villa Solonika. While listening to the tape, Butorin heard the phrase said by Solonik: “It’s time to get rid of Osya!” Then Butorin decided to “take down” Solonik himself. “Sasha the Soldier” and three other militants were sent on a mission to Greece – Alexander Sharapov (“Sharap”), Andrei Gusev (“Makar”) and Andrei Filippov (“Mazurik”), and for the purpose of secrecy, the militants flew to Greece in twos , on different flights and at different times, without weapons.

The militants settled in a luxurious villa, which was located not far from the house where Solonik lived with Svetlana Kotova. In order not to cause concern, “Sasha the Soldier,” who had a good relationship with him, went to Solonik. Pustovalov invited Solonik to “relax in the city” the next day. The unsuspecting killer agreed and at night he and Kotova went to the Orekhovskys’ villa. The militants invited Solonik and his girlfriend to have a drink. During a casual conversation, Gusev unexpectedly knocked Solonik down with one blow. Then Gusev and Sharapov held Solonik by the arms and legs, “Sasha the Soldier” threw a rope around his neck and strangled him for a long time, and Filippov lightly strangled Svetlana Kotova. After this, Pustovalov killed Kotova, breaking her hyoid bone, and then dismembered the corpse in the bathtub and put her remains in a suitcase. The bandits took Solonik’s body to a wooded area and buried it there. Kotova’s remains were thrown into a pre-dug hole in another place. The body was found thanks to a scheme that the Orekhovskys themselves planted on the Rubopovites, who were in Greece in those days. Solonik’s corpse was discovered on February 2, 1997. The remains of his girlfriend Svetlana Kotova were found only 3 months later.

Later at the trial, Pustovalov stated:

… While they were putting it on the table, I managed to cut the cord from the iron. Then it was simple: he lightly strangled Sasha by the neck, threw him to the floor, and that was it. Then they finished Svetlana, she managed to scream. Solonik was wearing a shirt, I don’t remember the color, gray trousers with a belt, and light shoes. And one more thing: I discussed all technical issues regarding Solonik with Butorin over the phone.

There have been various rumors about Solonik’s death for a long time. A version arose that he was supposedly alive and hiding somewhere far away. One of the Athens Russian-language newspapers published a letter allegedly received from a robber. However, as is now clear, journalists simply made this up to increase circulation. In another country they would have been held accountable for such a hoax. However, they did not even think to apologize to their readers for deceiving them.

During his lifetime, Solonik was sure that his story deserved to be filmed and repeatedly asked lawyers to agree on filming. The movie was actually made, and even several books were dedicated to the life of the bandit, but Alexander himself no longer saw this.

His Moscow defender also composed many fables about Solonik’s death. He published a number of interviews and even wrote a book, also claiming that Solonik was alive. Karyshev allegedly even came to Greece and examined Solonik’s corpse in the morgue, and allegedly “did not identify him.” All this was also fiction. Solonik, as Greek police from the homicide department once told our newspaper, was identified based on DNA tests, and there is no reason to doubt that it was he who was killed in Athens.

From the publication “Forgotten Sensation: Superkiller Thessaloniki and Alexander Litvinenko were friends at home”, section dedicated to “Sasha the Soldier”

We should also talk about Alexander Pustovalov. Sasha the soldier is a native Muscovite, after graduating from the 8th grade he worked at the Khrunichev plant. He joined the army and ended up in the naval special forces – the most elite type of troops. Demobilized. A big lover of women, after the army Sasha went all out. In one of the fights in a restaurant, he showed what the “black berets” are capable of and attracted the “Ivanteevskys”. I worked for them for some time. Then he became friends with Belkin and together with him ended up in the Orekhovskaya organized crime group. As a highly qualified sniper, he was in great demand among them. Moreover, the cunning Osya did everything to ensure that many of the “feats” of Sasha the soldier were attributed to Solonik – Sasha the Great. In 1997, Pustovalov was sent abroad. He was detained in Moscow, on Magistralnaya Street, in the house where his mother is registered. The famous killer surrendered without a fight…

This is who the Murovites call “killer number one.” On his account, only according to the episodes charged by the investigator, there are thirteen murders. It was he who threw a noose around Solonik’s neck, with whom, as detectives say, he completed more than ten “orders.” He also killed Solonik’s friend, fashion model Svetlana Kotova, in Greece.
The most daring crime committed by the Orekhovskys was the murder of the leader of the Assyrian organized crime group Alik Assyrian (Bid Zhamo) and his associates at the “arrow” located in the park near the monument to Yuri Dolgoruky opposite the Moscow City Hall. At the same time, Sasha Soldat left his weapon and gloves near the building of the Prosecutor General’s Office on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, and his accomplice, nicknamed Kirya (Kirillov), while running away, accidentally jumped over some kind of fence and ended up in the yard… of the same Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Assyrian, who had problems with the businessmen patronized by the Orekhovites, took with him to the Strelka a certain Utkin, who spent almost 50 years behind barbed wire. The old repeat offender, who lived according to his rules, was a diplomat in his field. But the robbers of the times of capitalism have their own concepts…
During the “showdowns” of the “Orekhovskaya” riots, civilians suffered more than once. Thus, six members of the Koptevskaya organized crime group who went over to the Orekhovsky side in January 1998 decided to deal with a certain Vyacheslav Stepanov. This happened on Novopeskovskaya Street. Several bullets hit a passing tram, injuring four people.
Later, two killers hid at the Orekhovsky base in Solnechnogorsk, but the owners decided to eliminate them as unnecessary witnesses. Two more participants in the massacre who fled abroad, including Sergei Zimin, the son of VimpelCom founder Dmitry Zimin, were put on the international wanted list.

In October 1995, Sasha Soldat and his accomplice Dmitry Bulgakov, nicknamed Pirog, shot two members of a Kazan organized crime group – a commercial dispute also arose with this group. After the shooting, Sasha left, and Pirog, together with Roman Zaitsev, who was waiting for him at the Kutuzovskaya metro station, went down to the metro. Their appearance aroused suspicion among two policemen, and they asked to show documents. In response – machine gun fire. One of the police officers, Anatoly Glebov, was killed, the other managed to survive. Roman Zaitsev was detained only four years later in Budapest, where he lived on false documents.
Sergei Timofeev was one of the first among the “authorities” to start investing money in legal businesses. He participated in the privatization of metallurgical enterprises in the Urals, controlled half of the large commercial banks in Moscow, and opened shops, restaurants, and gyms. He has already received from New York from the Jap sitting there a “baby”, in which he gives him the right to rule all of Moscow. They no longer call him Sylvester to his face, but rather respectfully: Sergei Ivanovich.

The meeting with Osya, Sergei Butorin, became the main mistake of Sergei Ivanovich Timofeev. Fate brought them together while selling stolen paintings. This is the first serious case of Axis, who retired from the army as an ensign and then served as a guard at the Scarlet Flower cafe. In 1990, he, together with his brother Alexander, Evgeny Tokarev and Vladimir Stepanov, organized the theft of the home collection of paintings of one of the most famous Russian collectors of paintings and icons, Victor Magids. Later it turned out that Osya acted on the order of another famous collector, Jan Feldman. But the “customer” got nothing – he was soon found hanged in Belgium. The driver Stepanov, who was supposed to wait for Osya with the stolen paintings, but did not do so, was shot on Butorin’s orders. The detectives managed to detain Osi’s brother, Alexander. He received a significant sentence, but is now free under an amnesty.

Evgeny Tokarev was sent for compulsory treatment to a psychiatric hospital, but he managed to escape and is still wanted. The paintings, worth $9 million, became the initial capital of the Axis. In a few years, his fortune will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
When forming the brigade, Osya focused not on athletes, but on the military. As you know, the Solntsevskys are mostly former athletes. The brigade formed by Osya and his “colleague” Andrei Pylev, nicknamed Dwarf, immediately included Dmitry Belkin (Belok), a former special forces soldier, and Marat Polyansky, a graduate of the Leningrad Military Space Academy. Three more of Marat’s classmates worked in the gang; they were indispensable in eliminating the “enemy.”

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