FSB major sentenced to nine years for murder in Northern Caucasus

Major Pavel Sterlyagov of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has been sentenced to nine years in prison in Rostov-on-Don. Sterlyagov was convicted of stabbing Kabardino-Balkaria resident Khusei Makitov to death in 2018 while on a business trip to the Northern Caucasian republic. Investigators said Sterlyagov was drunk at the time of the encounter.

Makitov’s death drew widespread attention and public protests in Kabardino-Balkaria in part because those suspected of killing him were not immediately arrested. While Sterlyagov’s nine-year sentence exceeded that recommended by a regional military court, which found that the FSB officer’s actions were not premeditated, the major was ultimately permitted to keep his rank.