Police Major Alexei Kuznetsov, accused of a fatal road accident, signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and went to war after receiving results of a new examination that did not speak in his favor. The relatives of the victims told ASTRA about this.
On April 21, 2024, in the area of the village of Sheregesh, Kemerovo region, a traffic accident occurred involving the head of the Tashtagol district police Department Alexei Kuznetsov. Driving a Lada Priora car with the state number “002” while intoxicated, he knocked down three young tourists from the Krasnoyarsk Region, who, due to the lack of public transport and taxis, were returning on foot after the closing of the Grelka Fest. Two of them, Vladislav Turukhanov and Alexander Simakov, died on the same day, while the third, Leonid Osipov, was seriously injured and fell into a coma.
“I don’t consider myself guilty, that’s how the stars turned out,” Kuznetsov said on local television.
At the time of the tragedy, Vlad Turukhanov had completed his studies, was working and helping his mother. Alexander Simakov was about to graduate from the Pedagogical University with honors, worked as a children’s football coach and was going to continue building his career in this field. Leonid Osipov worked as an assistant locomotive engineer and studied at the university online.
According to the relatives, the investigation of the case was initially conducted formally, with signs of bias. Despite the fact that the case involved video recordings, witness statements and other evidence, the investigation, according to the victims, systematically ignored the materials incriminating the accused and acted in his interests.
“There were other people in the car besides Kuznetsov. It was said about one of them that he was almost Prigozhin’s right-hand man. And we were told: who are you butting heads with? It’s useless, you won’t be able to achieve anything anyway,” Svetlana Moroz , the godsister of the deceased Simakov, told ASTRA.
According to the parents of the victims, the investigation did not ensure the safety of the car, refused to recognize it as material evidence, did not conduct the necessary examinations, and the car technical conclusion was based solely on the testimony of Kuznetsov himself. As a result, the victims believe, the criminal prosecution was actually sabotaged.
The situation began to change only in November 2024, when the case was transferred to a new investigator, Aigul Isaeva. It was she who insisted on conducting an investigative experiment and appointing a new examination, which established that the accused had the opportunity to avoid being hit. This called into question the previous conclusions and opened the way for the case to be brought to court.
However, in February 2025, when the case materials were ready for transfer to the court, Kuznetsov suddenly signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and went to the war zone. The victims claim that this decision was made solely in order to avoid criminal punishment.
“We were told that nothing can be done according to the law, because the law on mobilization is enforced. At first, we were told that we could at least file civil lawsuits remotely while he was in the war zone, but the court denied this at his place of residence. We will be able to file them only when the case is resumed — in a year,” said ASTRA Moroz.
