Vitaly Prisukhin. Photo: 7х7 / Telegram

A Russian man suspected of attacking two women with a knife has been detained by police in Russia’s far eastern island of Sakhalin, the regional police department reported on Thursday.

Vitaly Prisukhin, whose identity was confirmed by Russian independent media outlet 7x7, was charged by Sakhalin police with causing grievous bodily harm and robbery, had previously been sentenced to 16 years in prison for murdering two people in his home city of Kostroma in western Russia in 2010, according to the regional investigative department.

The Sakhalin regional police did not provide details of the attack or the identities of the women injured.

The first mention of an unidentified person who attacked two women in the village of Oktyabrskoye in the Sakhalin region appeared on Wednesday in a regional Telegram channel. According to Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, Prisukhin stole gold jewellery from his victims, who were later hospitalised in a serious condition.

Posts and photos from Prisukhin’s social networks suggest he participated in the war in Ukraine and was awarded the Medal for Bravery. While it’s not clear exactly how the ex-convict ended up on the front, according to regional outlet ChP Sakhalin he served with the Sakhalin 39th motorised rifle brigade, before being wounded in April and returning home in the summer.

The Russian authorities frequently offer violent criminals, rapists and murderers early release from prison and an eventual presidential pardon in exchange for them signing a contract to serve for six months with the Russian military in Ukraine.