Timur Demidenko was detained by police after alarmed neighbours called authorities. Police found his girlfriend's body in a pool of blood in his messy apartment. ' The alleged killer also decapitated a pigeon before running naked into the street in St Petersburg.
The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a murder probe. The victim is believed to be Russian, but her exact identity and name have not been released. Demidenko has previous convictions, though the specific nature of those convictions remains unclear.
I saved the country from a spy.
Officers said he confessed and expressed remorse for the killing. He has been detained in pre-trial detention and will undergo a series of psychiatric checks pending a full-scale murder investigation. No evidence has been presented to support Demidenko's claim that his girlfriend was a British spy.
In a separate case, a British man was arrested in Ukraine in December on suspicion of spying for Russia. Ross David Cutmore is alleged to have been recruited by Vladimir Putin's FSB security service. Prosecutors in Kyiv say Cutmore handed over the coordinates of Ukrainian units, photographs of the training area, and information regarding military personnel that could be used to identify them.
We are providing consular assistance to a British man who is detained in Ukraine.
' Officials say Cutmore arrived in Ukraine in January 2024 to train recruits in the southern city of Mykolaiv to use firearms and tactical skills. He is said to have left that job months later, having agreed to work for the Russian security services for easy money. ' Cutmore faces up to 12 years' imprisonment and confiscation of property.