Former Protester from Babruysk, who later mocked "fugitives" and praised Russia, died in the war in Ukraine

Artur Itkin was born in 1985. He was from Babruysk, where his father worked at the tire plant ("Belshina") during Soviet times.

Artur moved to Russia for work at least in 2016. There, he managed to work in the North, including in Nadym and Novy Urengoy.

In recent years, Itkin lived in Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, had a verified account on Russian "State Services," but retained Belarusian citizenship and periodically visited his homeland.

He worked as an electric and gas welder and plumber for the construction company Urban Group, and also took orders through the Profi.ru service. In his free time, he enjoyed fishing and repaired his used French cars himself — first a Citroen Xantia, and then a Peugeot 307 purchased in January 2025.

Павялічыць

Back in 2020, the Babruysk resident held different views: he participated in post-election protests in his hometown, and in April 2020 he registered on the collective appeals platform Petitions.by.

But later, in Belarusian and Russian car Telegram chats, Artur was very active and did not hide his pro-Russian views. In discussions with other Belarusians, he regularly mocked "fugitives" and "runaways," advised opponents to stop listening to "Voice of America" and forecasts that "everything will collapse soon" in Russia. Itkin insulted those compatriots who criticized Russian realities or prices, ironically calling them "patriots," and urged them not to believe that there were supposedly problems with food or expensive fuel in Russian cities.

He also congratulated chat participants on the "Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus," called himself a supporter of the "spiritually uplifting" "Yandex" and "Cheburnet" instead of Google, and referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine exclusively as the "SMO."

Itkin likely joined the Russian army in the first half of 2026. Judging by his messages in the closed military chat "Kaptyorka," the Babruysk resident worked with FPV drones ("birds") on fiber optics at the war front.

Павялічыць

In June 2026, he asked his "brothers" for help with updating the Betaflight firmware for drones, and also inquired how to remove fuses from high-explosive fragmentation shells in field conditions to convert them for an electric circuit. In August of the same year, he was still ordering pizza delivery in Dolgoprudny — likely during a vacation or stay in the rear.

Artur Itkin died on October 12, 2026, and was buried on November 4. His wife Olga, who remained in Belarus with their children — according to social media, they have a son and a daughter — wrote about this in one of the specialized chats.

According to the woman, the coffin with her husband's body was sent to her by plane, and of the documents, she only has the contract. Now the widow is looking for a military lawyer and is finding out where she needs to go in Russia to claim monetary payments for her children for her deceased husband.

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