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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Will Stewart & Reanna Smith

Russia's worst rapist who killed 83 women volunteers to fight for Putin in Ukraine

Russia’s bloodiest serial killer is volunteering to fight for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

Sex attacker Mikhail Popkov, 58, wants to join a controversial scheme that has seen thousands of murderers, rapists and other hardened criminals become mercenaries.

The prison recruitment scheme reportedly sees criminals sent out to fight with pro-Russian forces in Putin's illegal war in exchange for a pardon if they continue to fight and stay alive for six months.

Ex-policeman Popkov — nicknamed ‘The Werewolf’ and the ‘Angarsk Maniac’ — has killed 83 women, and is serving two life sentences plus nine years after three separate trials.

A police source believes his true toll is “closer to 200”.

Mikhail Popkov was convicted of killing 83 women but it's believed he could have had closer to 200 victims (AFP via Getty Images)

Popkov raped most of his victims, aged 18 to 50, before killing them with axes, hammers, knives, screwdrivers and spades.

Despite this, the Russian authorities permitted state TV to interview him behind bars as he pleaded to join Putin’s fighters, claiming he had radio-electronics experience from his time as a Red Army conscript.

He hopes to use the sickening Kremlin scheme — which has freed as many as 40,000 convicts — to gain his liberty.

The serial killer told Russian state media that he wanted to join the army (Vesti Rossiya/e2w)

Popkov is even suddenly confessing to more murders as he seeks to win a place in the Wagner private army, headed by Putin crony Yevgeny Prigozhin, which is backing the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

When asked by Russian state TV “what is your dream?”, he replied: “To join the army.”

The mass killer continued: “I would not hesitate to do so [join the war].

Mikhail Popkov, Russia's worst-ever serial killer, said he would like fight for Russia in Ukraine (Vesti Rossiya/e2w)

“If I refer to my military registration profession, I think it's in rather high demand now…

“Though it's probably more modern these days - radio-electronics…

“But even though I've been in prison for 10 years, I don't think it would be so hard to learn [new skills] quickly.”

Married father-of-one Popkov carried out his string of abhorrent crimes against women who were out alone between 1992 and 2010 in his home city Angarsk, which he wanted to “cleanse of prostitutes”.

Mikhail has been in prison for 10 years (Vesti Rossiya/e2w)

A psychiatric evaluation diagnosed Popkov with homicidal mania, “a condition when a person has an irrational desire to kill someone”, reported Russian news agency TASS.

Nevertheless, the mass murderer was declared sane.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, he was put to work in jail making face masks.

“There were moments when I thought the death penalty was better,” he has said.

Mikhail Popkov in the 1990s (URL:)

Russia has had a suspension on the use of the death penalty since 1996. Before this, the condemned were shot to the back of the head by an executioner.

Popkov implied that his wish to fight in the war was stronger than a "simple desire".

He said: “If I say I simply have a desire, it wouldn't be sincere.

"This is not a computer game, these are not fiction books about superheroes".

The serial killer said the coldest months would be the worst (Getty Images)

He wasn't sure he'd be able to survive the extreme frontline during the coldest months.

"Realistically, how would I manage to live through January and February?

“For me, the coldest frosts are the worst," he added.

Speaking earlier from behind bars in Irkutsk, Popkov expressed 'regret' for his horrific crimes.

“I have a lot to regret. For example, that none of this had happened, that I had not done (these things),” he said.

“It is a natural desire of any person - to regret. I have had a lot of time to think (about it ).”

Putin has reportedly been pardoning criminals who fight for Russia in Ukraine (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

The killer's 82nd victim was Natalya Zvereva, who he sexually attacked and murdered in a Siberian forest.

Popkov told interrogators he raped Zvereva then: “we quarrelled and I murdered her.

“I hit her on the top of her head…She fell down and did not show any signs of life.”

He claimed to have thrown her body into a river.

Mikhail Popkov carried out the murders between 1992 and 2010 (URL:)

The name of his 83rd victim was not disclosed.

A chilling video from his family archive shows the murderer in the 1990s walking towards the camera clutching a knife and reciting a post-war nursery rhyme based on Nazi prisoners of war attacking locals.

“I will slash you. I will beat you. Now it’s your turn,” he says with a sinister smile.

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