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Russian historian found with two arms in backpack admits killing former student

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A renowned Russian historian has admitted to killing a former student, after he was pulled from a river by police and found with a backpack containing two arms.

Oleg Sokolov, a specialist on Napoleon, was arrested by Russian police on Saturday after being pulled out of the Moïka River in St Petersburg.

“He admitted his guilt,” his lawyer Alexander Pochuev told AFP, adding that the 63-year-old historian, currently hospitalized and treated for hypothermia, regretted his act and was ready to cooperate with the police.

Russian media reports he told investigators he killed his former student Anastasia Yeshchenko, with whom he was having an affair.

He is due in court on Monday.

An admirer of Napoleon, Sokolov is known for wearing period costumes, and has organised historical re-enactments.

Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24, was also passionate about the Napoleonic era, and after being his student, she co-authored several books with him.

Oleg Sokolov, who holds a chair in history at St. Petersburg State University, is the author of several books, some of which were translated into French.

Decorated with the Legion d’Honour in 2003, he had also worked as an advisor on films and documentaries on Napoleon.

He was also a member in France of the scientific council of Issep, the school founded by the former far-right deputy Marion Maréchal, who dismissed him from his post as soon as his arrest was announced.

“As a professor of the chair of modern history at the University of St Petersburg, guest director of studies at the Ecole pratique des hautes études at the Sorbonne, decorated with the French Legion of Honour, we had no idea that he could commit this heinous act,” Issep explained in a statement.

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