The founder of the Russian PMC "Hawk" Marushchenko was arrested

The founder of the private military company (PMCs) "Hawk" Alexei Marushchenko was arrested as part of a criminal investigation into fraud in recruiting dozens of recruits who allegedly paid for the opportunity to serve in the elite unit of the accused.

The Second Western District Military Court extended Marushchenko's arrest period, TASS writes with reference to the available documents.

"To satisfy the petition for extension of the period of detention in respect of the accused Marushchenko Alexei Mikhailovich," the documents say.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the materials of the criminal case mention other arrested defendants, besides fraud, murder, extortion, as well as illegal trafficking in weapons and explosives are also mentioned among the charges brought against them.

According to the publication, Marushchenko was detained in 2025 in the Kursk region and arrested by the decision of the garrison military court. Together with him, the founder of the Bryansk private security company Jaguar, Artur Velisevich, and several other people were also arrested. "As follows from the case file, the defendants, according to investigators, "misled 95 persons entering military service under a contract through the military commissariat, promising them that when signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, they would actually serve in a private military company," Kommersant claims.