‘IN DEMAND’

Notorious Russian Serial Killer Pitches His Services for War Against Ukraine

Mikhail Popkov is currently behind bars for killing 80 people but promises he’s a quick learner.

A notorious Russian serial killer serving two life sentences for the murders of 80 people says he hopes to join Russia’s war against Ukraine. Mikhail Popkov, known as the Angarsk Maniac for a string of brutal murders of young women and girls from 1992 to 2010, featured in a bizarre interview with Russian state-media this week. “What is your dream?” Popkov was asked, to which he replied that he’d like to “be in the army.” “If you take my military specialty, I think it is quite in demand right now, although now, probably, everything is more contemporary: radio electronics and so forth. But I have been in prison for at least ten years, so I think that it will generally not be so difficult to study quickly.” He said if offered the chance to help the military, he would “agree, without hesitation.” It was not immediately clear if he was angling to get the attention of the Wagner Group, the private army founded by Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin that has been offering prison inmates freedom and amnesty in exchange for a turn on the battlefield.