A South Ossetian special forces commander escaped punishment for attempted murder.

The Rostov Garrison Military Court suspended proceedings against Shalva Gabaraev, commander of the South Ossetian Ministry of Defense's special forces, and he returned to the war zone in Ukraine, accused of attempted murder and hooliganism.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in August 2022, the President of South Ossetia dismissed Defense Minister Vladimir Pukhaev in connection with the beating of Azamat Dzhigkaev, a resident of Tskhinvali, by special forces. The reason for this decision was Pukhaev's refusal to fire the head of the special forces, Shalva Gabaraev, whose subordinates beat and kidnapped Dzhigkaev.

The case of 40-year-old Gabaraev was filed in court in February 2026, but the court suspended proceedings after the first hearing. Shalva Gabaraev returned to the war zone in Ukraine after the commander of the 19th Division asked the court to drop the criminal prosecution, Mediazona* reported on June 3.

Shalva Gabaraev himself confirmed to the publication that he "went back to the Northeastern Military District." Prior to this, he spent five months at a collection point for those who left their unit without leave in the Rostov Region. The soldier declined to elaborate on the case, describing only a few points in general terms: according to Gabaraev, he "accidentally" found himself in a place where he had a conflict with another person, which escalated into a fight.

The opponent, according to Gabaraev, hit him with a bottle, and he hit back. He insists there was no threat to the victim's life, as he spent "three or four days" in the hospital. "If I had wanted to kill, I would have, but I didn't. The investigator can write whatever he wants," the soldier stated, noting that he wants to "forget about it."

Shalva Gabarayev himself identifies himself as the commander of a special forces battalion in South Ossetia, although open sources have used other titles for his name in the past two years. In 2024, he was mentioned in a republican newspaper publication as one of the fighters from the "Særmæt" battalion who were awarded the "Patriot of Russia" medal. In October 2025, Gabaraev was designated as a "representative of the assault detachment within the 166th I.A. Pliev Regiment."

"Caucasian Knot" wrote about other cases where participation in the SVO allowed those convicted of serious violent crimes to be released without serving a sentence. For example, Rustam Nogmov, a former participant in the military operations in Ukraine, convicted of the murder of pensioner Nina Selezneva in Nalchik, signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense and again sent to the front, thus avoiding a 15-year prison sentence. Nogmov's father, who works for the Federal Penitentiary Service, was also not suspended from service.

In March 2024, it became known that Vyacheslav Ryabtsev and Andrei Bykov, sentenced in 2012 to 20 years in prison for the Tsapkov gang case, were pardoned. A source in the security forces reported that both were released after participating in military operations in Ukraine. Bykov, accused of involvement in the murder of 16 people, was killed in the spring of 2025, and Ryabtsev, according to sources, returned to Kuban in the summer of 2023 and lives in Krasnodar.

Vladislav Biryukov, a former police officer and resident of Rostov-on-Don, sentenced to 16 years for the murder of his wife in 2019, was amnestied after fighting in Ukraine. According to the parents of the murdered Anna Biryukova, her husband "served only a small part of his sentence." Vadim Tekhov, a former police officer from North Ossetia sentenced to 16 years for the murder of his ex-wife, Regina Gagieva, was also quickly released from prison. In May 2023, Gagieva's relatives reported that Tekhov was spotted in Vladikavkaz and demanded an explanation from the prosecutor's office. In the summer of 2025, Tekhov was buried in Vladikavkaz, although his death was not related to his participation in military operations.

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