Bio

There is no reliable public information about Anton Sopov's early life. I found no verifiable facts about his birth date, family, hometown, schooling, or childhood.

Available records identify him as a member of the Russian Armed Forces. Public sources mention his name only in connection with a court case that led to his arrest and later conviction.

Murder Story

On 27 October 2023, two soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces killed a family of nine civilians in Volnovakha during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nine bodies were found at the house. Two of the victims were children aged five and nine.

Volnovakha had been under Russian control since March 2022. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office, the soldiers had demanded the family leave their home because the soldiers intended to use it for a military unit. The family refused, and a few days later the soldiers returned and shot all the family members in the house.

Photos from the scene spread on social networks. The images showed family members dead in their beds, some embracing each other, and blood on the walls. Mikhail Savva of the Center for Civil Liberties said the case was a rare instance of Moscow admitting killings by its own forces.

Russian investigators opened a criminal inquiry after the photos went viral. On 30 October 2023, the soldiers were arrested. The trial was held in secrecy for military reasons.

In early November 2024, a Russian southern military court in Rostov found Anton Sopov and Stanislav Rau guilty. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment.