Yuri Ustimenko and Dmitry Medvedev

Yuri Ustimenko Yuri Kirillovich Ustimenko was born on 23 April 1982 in the Leningrad Oblast, RSFSR, USSR, the younger of two brothers. His father abandoned the family in the early 1990s, leaving Ustimenko's mother to look after the children. Due to his skinny physique and short stature, Ustimenko was bullied by other students and became a social outcast, a problem further exacerbated by the fact that he verbally and physically abused by a relative, leading to him developing an inferiority complex. Medvedev, who had recently been rejected by a girl, quickly grew attached to his new friend, following every suggestion and becoming heavily influenced by Ustimenko's viewpoints and character. From March to October 2001, Telepin's gang committed five murders with particular cruelty that caused a great public stir. While Ustimenko, Medvedev and another friend named Valentin Oleinikov were known to be closely associated and even knew about Telepin's crimes, no evidence indicated that they were personally involved. In mid-2001, Ustimenko gave some money to Telepin after the latter suffered from financial difficulties. That same autumn, Telepin and his gang were put on a wanted list - shortly afterwards, Oleinikov deserted the Naval Institute, crossed the border into Estonia and settled in Sillamäe. A few days after his escape, Ustimenko and Medvedev followed suit - on 29 September, they left on leave, but instead of returning, they swam across the Estonian border via the Narva Reservoir. In order to cross, they utilized skills they had learned at the Naval Institute - they put on fins and masks, covered their bodies with black paint to be invisible in the water at night and carefully smeared their bodies with fat to prevent hypothermia. In the meantime, a criminal case was opened against both men for their desertion. Later on, Ustimenko would claim that he and Medvedev initially planned to remain in the country until Telepin's trial concluded, and would eventually return to Russia and enroll back at the Naval Institute. However, he said that they gave up on the idea because Oleinikov convinced them both that they would endangered by the remainder of Telepin's gang. As such, the pair instead decided to move in with Oleinikov in Sillamäe, where they soon began to struggle financially due to the fact they were unable to find permanent work as illegal immigrants. For some time, they were supported by Oleinikov, but when he eventually started struggling as well, Ustimenko and Medvedev resorted to engaging in criminal activity. In order to avoid getting caught, the duo always stuck together, traveled using only public transport and never used mobile phones. ==Crimes==

On 18 March 2002, at 4:24 AM, a bomb exploded at the main door of a gun shop at Roosikrantsi 8 in Tallinn. After four minutes, another bomb blew up. The explosions injured two people, who were hit by glass. Witnesses saw two men running away from the event. Two days later, on 31 March at 7:45 PM, the perpetrators entered a shop in Tartu, where Ustimenko used a shotgun to shoot the 51-year-old saleswoman, identified only by her first name "Galina", in the head. The criminals then stole around a thousand kroons from the cash register and fled. He and Medvedev then stole 50,000 kroons from the cash register. Despite her injuries, Zujeva survived and recovered from the sustained wounds. Suspected crimes In addition to these murders, Ustimenko remains a suspect in two more. Investigators claimed that of his former classmates from the Naval Institute - Ruslan Nukreev and Dmitry Zelinsky - also moved to Estonia illegally in April 2002, possibly aided by Ustimenko and Medvedev, but both then mysteriously vanished. Nukreev's body was found on the banks of the Narva River in late 2002 and was positively identified by his father, while Zelinsky was never found. It was suspected that Ustimenko and Medvedev planned to create a robbery gang with the two men, but for some reason had a disagreement resulting in both Nukreev and Zelinsky being shot to death. However, Ustimenko denied involvement, and was never charged with either of the two cases. ==Medvedev's death and Ustimenko's capture==

Despite committing very heinous and high-profile crimes, Ustimenko and Medvedev did not exert any caution in their everyday lives and lived lavishly - visiting expensive stores and buying pricey clothing, traveling exclusively by taxi, and eating in high-class bars and restaurants. They also befriended various youths, on whom they generally made a favorable impression. However, local authorities soon noticed that the pair often carried large sums of money despite being supposedly unemployed, prompting them to investigate further. Based on witness statements, Estonian law enforcement agencies created identikits of the suspects in the "Predator" crimes, both of which matched Ustimenko and Medvedev. In order to prevent their possible escape, they also notified authorities from neighboring countries about the suspects. Meanwhile, in an attempt to evade capture, the pair left Estonia on the early morning of 5 May 2002, crossing the border into Latvia via the border town of Valka. The pair were stopped by several border security guards, and while checking their documents, Ustimenko and Medvedev resisted and attempted to escape. In the ensuing struggle, Medvedev pulled put a gun and fatally shot Corporal Aigars Krupnieks, also wounding his companions, officers Ēriks Zanders and Sandris Jacino. Despite their injuries, both Zanders and Jacino returned fire, killing Medvedev with a shot to the head. In the meantime, Ustimenko successfully fled, leading to him being declared a most wanted fugitive across Latvia, Estonia and several other neighboring states, all of which organized a large-scale search involving helicopters and K-9 handlers, and the inspections of more than a thousand vehicles. In early May, Ustimenko was reportedly spotted crossing the border from Lithuania into Sejny, Poland, where suspicious residents saw him boarding a bus. ==Arrest and location of Ustimenko's diary==

Ustimenko was arrested in the Polish city of Suwałki on 10 May 2002. Initially, he claimed that his name was Ilia Habarov, and that he was heading to France to join the French Foreign Legion. While inspecting his belongings, authorities found a 9mm Walther P99, leading to him being charged with illegal border crossing and carrying a weapon without a license. Not long after, Ustimenko was convicted of these charges and received a 7-month prison sentence. In addition to this, authorities also found his personal diary, which contained detailed maps of Estonia and its capital, Tallinn, which were pasted across two pages of the diary. The city map had a large circle around Roozikrantsi Street, from where Ustimenko and Medvedev had stolen their weapons. On other pages, there were carefully pasted photographs of Ustimenko's favorite musical groups, among which were Nautilus Pompilius and Bi-2, whose songs featured in his favorite film, Brother 2. In addition, the diary contained photographs of about 60 famous people from various historical periods, including Adolf Hitler, Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Vysotsky. Another set of photographs depicted the September 11 attacks, for which Ustimenko claimed to be in possession of because he had a hatred against America and Jews. Aside from the photographs, the diary contained quotes from various famous people, including Georgy Zhukov, Honore de Balzac and Ernest Hemingway. Authorities also indicated there were attempts to link the diary's entries to the Telepin gang's crimes back in Russia, but no evidence of this was found. ==Extradition, trial and imprisonment==

Immediately after his arrest, the Estonian government began negotiations with the Polish to extradite Ustimenko to their country, where he was charged with several counts of murder and robbery. Similar requests were issued by Latvia and Russia for the respective crimes committed in their jurisdictions. Ultimately, the Polish government extradited Ustimenko to Estonia on 13 November 2002. During the preliminary investigation, Ustimenko fully cooperated and actively demonstrated how he carried out the crimes, even pointing out where he had buried Valentin Oleinikov's body. Nevertheless, the Tallinn City Court found him guilty on all counts. His sentencing phase lasted for two days due to the 88-page length, the longest sentencing of its kind in the country's history. In addition, he was ordered to pay 1.5 million kroons in material damages. ==Aftermath==

After his conviction, Ustimenko was transferred to serve his sentence at the Tartu Prison, which at the time was one of best prisons in Eastern Europe in terms of conditions. While in prison, Ustimenko started filing numerous lawsuits against the prison administration and various officials. Ustimenko filed for clemency to Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2010, but this was denied, along with the similar petitions by other inmates. In early 2016, Ustimenko filed a petition to be extradited to Russia and continue serving his sentence there, but this was rejected by the Minister of Justice Urmas Reinsalu on 18 May 2016. In early February 2017, filed an appeal to before the Tartu Administrative Court to have the decision be overturned, but this was denied. Reinsalu later commented on his denial, claiming that there was a higher risk of Ustimenko being released if he was transferred to Russian custody. In his claim, he said that he was stuck with a cellmate he had to argue with for over two weeks. On 30 September 2016, the Tartu Administrative Court denied the claim, as it concluded that his placement in the cell with the other prisoner was not illegal. The guard was able to resist in time and only escaped with a few cuts and abrasions. On 6 May 2019, the Tartu Court found Ustimenko guilty of attempted murder and gave him an additional 9 years imprisonment, affecting his possibility of parole. Together with Ustimenko, the Court also prosecuted another prisoner, 56-year-old Nikolai Lilichkin, who was found guilty of inciting Ustimenko to carry out the crime - for this he received 8 years, 2 months and 19 days in prison. At the end of the year, he was subjected to disciplinary sanctions for numerous violations and was placed in punishment cell. After serving several months, he filed another lawsuit against the Tartu Prison administration, claiming that his detainment in the punishment cell was illegal and that his mental health deteriorated as a result. In December 2019, the court ruled that the prison had violated Ustimenko's human rights, but did not grant him any compensation. Yet again, this lawsuit was dismissed on 30 November 2021. ==Public reaction==

The exposure of Andrei Telepin's gang and the crimes committed by Yuri Ustimenko caused a public outcry in Russia. The leadership of the Naval Institute and the officer corps tried to explain the reasons why cadets of one of the most respected educational institutions turned out to be violent murderers. An officer later gave a statement about the situation to the media. ==See also==

• Ustimenko's crimes were partially covered on an episode of the Russian documentary series Investigation with Eduard Petrov (), titled "Death Course" (). ==References==