‘Don’t ruin their lives’ Russian woman says police pressured her to withdraw rape report against off-duty soldiers

In December 2023, a 19-year-old woman in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg filed a police report in which she alleged that multiple soldiers had raped her. But according to her, instead of pursuing the case, one of the policemen on duty pressured her into withdrawing her statement in exchange for bribes from the suspects to himself and to the woman. The policeman was then immediately arrested for bribery, while the woman said the money had been placed in her purse without her knowledge. A month later, she withdrew the report, saying she couldn’t bear going through the trial. Meduza summarizes what we know about the case.

The first mention of this incident in the media appeared on the news site 66.ru, which quoted a law enforcement source as saying that a Yekaterinburg policeman had been arrested for accepting a bribe. According to the source, the officer had been approached by an acquaintance who had a plan to extort a man with whom she’d had consensual sex. The source claimed that the woman demanded 500,000 rubles ($5,570) in exchange for not accusing the man of rape, an amount she later increased to 900,000 rubles (about $10,000).

The following day, the news site E1, citing its own sources from law enforcement, wrote that a 19-year-old woman in the city had gone to the police to report a rape committed by “multiple participants of the special military operation.” According to E1, the report was received by a police major named Sergey. After speaking to the suspects, the outlet said, Sergey offered to let them avoid prosecution in exchange for a bribe of 900,000 rubles, part of which he would keep and part of which he would give to the woman who reported the rape. After agreeing, the men reportedly contacted the Federal Security Service (FSB). They then delivered the bribe under the surveillance of federal agents, who proceeded to arrest the officer on the spot and charge him with bribery.

That same day, the Telegram channel Baza wrote about the case. According to its information, the police officer extorted 700,000 rubles (​​$7,790) from the alleged rapists and offered 300,000 ($3,340) to the woman who reported them. The channel said the woman was being considered a witness in the case.

Several days later, the woman spoke to E1 about the situation. She told journalists that she was living with her boyfriend when some of his friends came over. Two of them, she said, proceeded to rape her, while a third sat in the kitchen and did nothing to intervene. She called out to her boyfriend for help, she told the outlet, but he didn’t respond.

The woman said she reported the rape to the police, but because there were “no bruises,” they didn’t believe her. A medical analysis that the police sent her to take, however, showed damage to her genitals.

After that, she told E1, a police officer called the men who raped her to his office and encouraged her to speak with them, saying that they’d “soon have to go to the front” and that they would apologize to her if she gave them the chance. Under pressure from the policeman, the woman said, she agreed to speak with one of the suspects who hadn’t taken part in the rape, a man named Daniel. During their conversation, she said Daniel offered her money and “started to kiss [her] hands,” asking her to withdraw the report. Eventually, she said, the pressure from his begging and from the police telling her “not to ruin the guys’ lives” was too much, and she agreed.

One month later, in late January, E1 contacted the woman again. She told the journalists that she had withdrawn her report after learning that she was pregnant (it’s unclear whether the pregnancy was a result of the rape). According to E1, this was still legally permissible because the authorities had opened a bribery case but not a rape case.

The woman said that after learning that she would have to take part in courtroom interrogations and see the suspects face-to-face, she decided she wasn’t ready. “I threw up my hands, because I can’t do this alone against everyone, especially when I’m being harassed from all sides, and I know it. So I had to take this step. The criminal proceedings in this case are really tough on me from a moral and psychological point of view,” she said.

According to E1, after she withdrew her report, military investigators issued a refusal to pursue the case. The suspects’ names and whether they were sent to the front are unclear. The FSB and the Russian Investigative Committee have not commented on the case.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape or sexual assault, please reach out to one of the following resources for support:

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (for U.S. readers)

Rape Crisis Network Europe (for E.U. readers)

Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime (for Canadian readers)