Former Sakhalin investigator Aleksandr Tsarakaev leads Russian Investigative Committee in occupied Melitopol
Former Sakhalin investigator heads Russian Investigative Committee in occupied Melitopol, prosecuting local Ukrainians over online comments.
Aleksandr Tsarakayev. Photo from open sourcesRussia’s Investigative Committee in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Region (Oblast) is headed by Aleksandr Tsarakaev, a former investigator from Sakhalin, the RIA-Pivden news outlet reported. Its main office is located in Melitopol, and the body targets local residents, including over statements made on social media.
According to data from the Evocation platform, Tsarakaev was born in 1966 in Dolinsk on Sakhalin, Russia. He worked in investigative bodies in the Sakhalin and Amur regions, and after the start of the full-scale invasion, he was sent to temporarily occupied territory in Ukraine. He holds the rank of colonel of justice. Tsarakaev does not conceal his face: he appears at occupation administration events, speaks at news conferences before Russian propagandists and presents certificates of merit to subordinates.
The body, under his direction, opens criminal cases, particularly over comments posted on social media.
In August 2026, the Investigative Committee completed an investigation into a 28-year-old resident of Melitopol accused of “negative statements” about Orthodox Christianity and “calls for violence against citizens of the Russian Federation” on the Russian social network VKontakte. He faces allegations under Part 1 of Article 148 and Part 2 of Article 280 of the Russian Criminal Code. The man’s name has not been released, and the comments have not been made public.
ZMINA previously reported on similar cases: in occupied Melitopol, a man is to be tried over six comments online.
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