Russian Lieutenant Colonel Sentenced to 21 Years for Fake "Feats" Videos and Organizing Self-Inflicted Wounds for Payments

Konstantin Frolov previously headed a special operations group of the 83rd Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian forces. He is the son of Oleg Frolov, former deputy general director of "Roscosmos" for the state armaments program, who was accused of embezzling funds during equipment procurement.

According to the case materials, Konstantin Frolov created a group of more than 30 people in the combat zone to illegally obtain money. Its members staged combat feats for state awards and monetary payments, filmed staged videos, and presented them as real combat episodes.

In December 2023, they filmed a video in which they allegedly blew up a column of equipment at the front. In January 2024, a video appeared imitating an attack by Ukrainian drones on Frolov's group. Some fake stories made it to federal Russian TV channels, where they reported on non-existent feats of Russian servicemen.

The investigation revealed that the group members also falsified injuries. They inserted prepared shell fragments into various parts of the body, simulating combat wounds. Sometimes medical personnel participated in this. Additionally, servicemen shot at each other to receive real injuries and claim payments.

One of the television reports was dedicated to an allegedly unique sniper group led by "Palach." It claimed that after his seventh injury, the officer allegedly refused rehabilitation and returned to the front out of a sense of military duty.

Frolov himself, however, also received a real injury while trying to film a staged video. At the firing range, he threw a grenade into a dugout, but the munition bounced off the wall back to his feet and exploded. In September 2023, he was also shot in the forearm with an AK-12 assault rifle with a suppressor from a distance of about half a meter. According to the case materials, this injury was minor.

Furthermore, Frolov created a fictitious group for testing new drone models, which used invented names "Saturn-tuman VP" and "Bizon VP." The group members also acquired trophy firearms and explosives. Part of the weapons, according to case materials, was gifted to high-ranking officials. Frolov himself claimed that some items were handed over, among other places, to the "Patriot" park near Moscow.

As a result, in addition to the imposed 21-year prison sentence, the court stripped Frolov of four Orders of Courage, the Medal "For Valor," and the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree. The convicted man himself linked the criminal case to the charges brought against his father.

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