Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, 58-year-old Oleh Dolmatov, a lover of historical reenactments, used to dress up in Soviet uniforms, throw themed parties with vodka and roach, and spread pro-Russian narratives on his social media pages. After the Russian occupation of his hometown of Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia oblast, he began to cooperate with the FSB to coordinate missile attacks on Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian law enforcement officers notified the man of suspicion of high treason, and Slidstvo.Info journalists identified the spotter and spoke to him by phone.

This is described in the material by Slidstvo.Info

On 15 January, Ukrainian law enforcement officers served a notice of suspicion of high treason on Oleh Dolmatov, a resident of the temporarily occupied Dniprorudne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. 

According to law enforcement, in October 2023, Dolmatov was allegedly recruited by an FSB officer, Oleksiy, with the callsign “Frost”. The Russian wanted to know about the location of critical infrastructure, military equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia. 

Since Dolmatov was not in the city, he engaged a resident of Zaporizhzhia, Yevhenii Dorokhin, according to law enforcement officials. 

The men corresponded on Telegram, and Dorokhin wrote under the nickname “Spaniard”. On 5 October 2023, he told Dolmatov that the Ukrainian military was based on the island of Khortytsia and indicated their locations. The man sent a Google map image with a detailed explanation. 

During the correspondence, Dolmatov asked to “clean up” the message: “Make a screenshot. Delete everything”.

The resident of Dniprorudne forwarded the information to a representative of the Russian Federation and wrote to Dorokhin: “Gratitude from the command”.

On the evening of 17 October 2023, the FSB officer warned Dolmatov that there would be noise in one of Zaporizhzhia’s districts and asked him to find out what the consequences would be. 

According to the State Emergency Service, on 18 October 2023, at half past two in the morning, Russians launched six missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia within 15 minutes. A multi-storey building in the city centre was damaged — eight apartments (from the 5th to the 3rd floors) were partially destroyed. Five people were killed and five others were injured.

A multi-storey building in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian missile strike

10 minutes after the explosion, Dorokhin reported to Dolmatov that it was “fun, but somehow not enough… sad, no enthusiasm at all”. Later, the SBU detained Dorokhin, and now the man faces life imprisonment.

Journalists of Slidstvo.Info identified Oleh Dolmatov through his pages on Russian social media.

58-year-old Oleh Dolmatov has Ukrainian citizenship, but he is a native of the Russian Federation — Kostroma oblast. The man is not officially employed.

Dolmatov is married, has children and grandchildren. He currently resides in the temporarily occupied city of Dniprorudne, Zaporizhzhia oblast, which he confirmed to journalists. 

Before the full-scale invasion, the man used to play with his grandchildren, relax with friends, sew leather watch straps and enjoy historical reconstruction. 

In addition, on his pages on Russian social media, he actively demonstrated a pro-Russian position — spreading Russian narratives, laughing at the Ukrainian anthem, posting “For Stalin!”, participating in themed parties “Proletarians of all countries — unite!”

“9 May” on Dolmatov’s pages has become a real cult. The man is proud to have been born on this day. In numerous photographs, he and his friends dressed up in Soviet uniforms and organised celebrations.

Slidstvo.Info journalists called Dolmatov and asked him about his cooperation with the FSB and the missile launch at the apartment building. The man was nervous and hung up several times. 

After talking to Dolmatov, the journalists called his son, Dmytro Olehovych, who fled to Russia during the Russian occupation of his native Dniprorudne. 

Slidstvo.Info managed to find out from a recent photo (published on 30 September 2023 — ed.) exactly where Dolmatov Jr. could be. Based on the landscape in the photo, it was established that the photo was taken in St Petersburg, at a river yacht club. 

Before the Russian invasion, the man had served in the Ukrainian Desna, and had taken an oath of allegiance to Ukraine.

The journalists called Dmytro via his VKontakte page and asked him if he knew about his father, a fire spotter. Dolmatov Jr. confirmed that he was currently in Russia, but after being asked about his father, he blocked the page. 

The journalists also found Yevhenii Dorokhin‘s page in Oleh Dalmatov’s friends. The two men probably met through a common hobby — participation in a military reenactment club.

 

Dorokhin, who lived in Zaporizhzhia and passed the coordinates of Ukrainian defenders to Dolmatov, did not hide his pro-Russian views on his pages on Russian social media.

Currently, Yevhenii Dorokhin has been detained and may remain in prison for life. If proven guilty of treason, Oleh Dolmatov faces up to 15 years in prison (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The material was prepared with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine”. The material represents the position of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation.

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