In the Moscow Region, a Belarusian and four Russians, posing as repairmen, stole Rostelecom's copper cable

On September 29, 2026, the Klin City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced five men for the theft of a telephone cable as part of a group by prior conspiracy. One of the convicted is Belarusian citizen Sergei Chermeninov. Russians Vladimir Zotov, Oleg Kochetov, Vladimir Lebedev, and Alexey Ustuzhanin were convicted along with him.

The men agreed to steal a copper Rostelecom telephone cable, which was laid in telephone manholes in the Klin district. They arrived at the location in a rented GAZ vehicle.

To avoid suspicion, Chermeninov, Kochetov, Ustuzhanin, and Lebedev put on special uniforms and placed cones along the manholes, so that from the side it looked like repair work. Using a crowbar and a shovel, they opened the hatch of the telephone sewer manhole. Lebedev descended and informed the others that there was a reserve cable there, which someone had previously dismantled.

The Belarusian was assigned the role of a lookout. Chermeninov stood near the manhole and watched to warn the others if anyone noticed the theft.

Lebedev tied the end of the cable with a rope, and Zotov drove the car to the manhole, secured the cable to the back of the vehicle, and pulled it out of the manhole with jerks.

The cable was loaded into the car and handed over to a metal receiving point, and the money was divided among themselves.

All five fully admitted their guilt, so the case was heard under a special procedure, without examining evidence. The defendants voluntarily compensated Rostelecom for the damage.

The Belarusian is married, has a young child, and works as a picker in Russia. He has already been convicted twice for similar group thefts. The Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow sentenced him to forced labor, but this sentence was never executed, and the Belarusian did not serve his punishment. Later, the Solnechnogorsk City Court of the Moscow Region gave him a two-year suspended sentence.

Due to the first conviction, the court recognized recidivism in the actions of the Belarusian. His punishment was mitigated due to Chermeninov's own health condition and that of his pensioner mother, as well as his assistance to the "SVO" (Special Military Operation).

As a result, Chermeninov was sentenced to forced labor with a portion of his earnings withheld for the benefit of the state.

Russians Zotov, Kochetov, Lebedev, and Ustuzhanin received fines.

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