Journalists identify Russian prison doctor who mocked, threatened to rape Ukrainian inmates

Investigative journalists from the Ukrainian project Skhemy and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have identified the medic whom Ukrainian prisoners at Penal Colony No. 7 in the settlement of Pakino, Vladimir region, referred to as Konoval. According to their findings, he is 48-year-old Vyacheslav Cherdantsev.

Reporters interviewed about 50 former inmates, both military and civilian. Interlocutors said the doctor forced them to undress, simulated sexual acts, made comments about their genitals, and threatened them with rape. “He would come up and simulate how he fucks (rapes) prisoners,” journalists quoted one of those interviewed as saying.

Former inmates also said Cherdantsev denied them medical care. In response to requests, he allegedly said he “wants us to suffer.” This, according to witnesses, led to an outbreak of scabies in the colony.

Two former prisoners said Cherdantsev forced them to move across the floor on their hands, scraping the skin on their legs until they bled — a practice called “crawling like a seal.” He also used “bastinado”: repeated blows to the soles of the feet with a baton.

Cherdantsev is a native of Kyrgyzstan. He began his career in the penitentiary system there, working as a paramedic in a juvenile correctional facility. According to documents reviewed by journalists, the medical unit at that facility was often closed, basic medicines were lacking, and adolescents suffered from advanced infectious and dermatological diseases.

Cherdantsev likely moved to Russia in 2013. He settled in the village of Pervomayskoye near Pakino. He first worked at an orphanage and, from 2015, at Penal Colony No. 7.

Journalists found photographs of Cherdantsev from 2023. About 30 former inmates said the person in the photo “resembles” Konoval. Another ten or so said they positively identified him as the doctor who abused them. Cherdantsev did not respond to journalists' calls or messages. Colony director Yuri Fomin and Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) also did not respond to requests.