The court stripped Frolov, known by the callsign "Executioner," of his lieutenant colonel rank, four Orders of Courage and a Medal for Valour, and barred him from senior government posts for 10 years after release, according to Bumaga and Kommersant.
He was convicted on six counts of bribe-taking, organizing a fraud scheme over payments, and organizing the illegal trafficking of weapons, components and explosives. Investigators said he set up a group of more than 30 people in the combat zone to stage injuries and feats of arms.
The scheme, as the court established, worked like this: service members shot each other while trying to avoid vital organs, and had pre-prepared munitions fragments implanted under their skin. Medics sometimes took part. According to investigators, members of the group illegally received more than 200 million rubles from the budget, along with benefits, leave and state awards.
Frolov himself claimed he had received seven wounds. In September 2023 he was shot in the forearm from an AK-12 with a suppressor at a distance of about half a metre. According to case materials, he then "squealed, fell to the ground, where he spun like a top, although the injury was not serious."
In November 2023 Frolov secured the creation of a special operations group in the brigade to test drones under invented names "Saturn-fog VP" and "Bizon VP." Group members falsified detonations and damage to claim payments for wounds, including on video. In December 2023 they planted charges on the route of vehicles and filmed a clip purporting to show a convoy of equipment being blown up. In January 2024 they staged a drone attack on their own group and simulated an explosion while demining a weapons cache.
In May 2024 Frolov organized the filming of a clip at a training ground during which he threw a grenade into a dugout. It bounced off the wall back to his feet and exploded, leaving him with real injuries.
On 23 February 2024, Channel One broadcast a report about Frolov. The segment described a "unique group of snipers" led by "one of the most effective snipers in the zone of the special military operation" with the callsign Executioner. It also claimed he had saved and adopted a girl whose parents were killed in shelling. Investigators called this a lie, as they did other episodes in the report.
In addition, the defendants acquired trophy weapons and ammunition, including historic Maxim heavy machine guns, foreign grenades and Russian assault rifles and grenade launchers. Part of the arsenal, according to investigators, went as gifts to senior officials. Frolov himself said some items were handed over to Patriot Park.
Frolov initially pleaded guilty and his case was heard under a special procedure. During the trial he demanded that it be switched to the general procedure, rejected all charges and linked his prosecution to the case of his father, former Roscosmos deputy director general Oleg Frolov, accused of embezzling funds in the purchase of equipment.