Dmitry Malyshev. Photo: Dmitry Malyshev / OK

A convicted cannibal who was granted early release from a 25-year prison sentence to fight with the Russian military in Ukraine has returned to his hometown of Rakhina in southern Russia’s Volgograd region a free man, Volgograd news outlet V1.ru reported on Saturday.

Having already led an organised crime group that gunned down two businessmen in 2013, Dmitry Malyshev’s criminal career took an even more sinister turn in 2014 when he killed a 46-year-old Tajik man with whom he had been drinking after the pair had an argument. Not only did Malyshev hit his drinking buddy over the head four times, he cut out his heart, fried it and ate it, filming the entire process.

Despite being found guilty of murder and cannibalism and sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2015, Malyshev was released in 2023 after signing a contract with the Defence Ministry, V1.ru reported in May.

Malyshev told reporters that a desire to preserve Russia’s “traditional values” had led him to enlist to fight in Ukraine. “What would you do if someone taught your daughter how to put a condom on properly at primary school? Or you saw men walking down the street kissing each other?” Malyshev asked.

Mayor of Rakhina Fyodor Kadovba confirmed that Malyshev had returned to his hometown after being wounded in Ukraine. “He was wounded earlier in the year too. … He told me he‘d return to the front line once he’d recovered,” he added.