A lawyer said it was impossible to remove Bugayev's body from the SSO zone because of the hostilities

The body of former Russian national team footballer Alexei Bugayev cannot be taken out of the SVO zone at the moment due to the ongoing hostilities. This was reported by sports soccer agent Anton Smirnov on December 29.

"According to my information, there is no possibility to take out Alexey's body yet. There are hostilities," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Smirnov also expressed hope that the body can still be delivered to bury.

On this day it was reported that former Russian national team soccer player Alexei Bugaev died at the SVO.

Earlier, on September 24, the Prikubansky district court sentenced Bugayev to nine years in prison for attempted drug trafficking, after which Bugayev planned to go to the SVO.

Bugayev was detained in Krasnodar on suspicion of drug dealing on November 1, 2023. He tried to run away from the police, after which an administrative case was opened against him for disobedience to the lawful order of a police officer (Article 19.3 of the CAO) and he was arrested for seven days.

During detention, the footballer was seized a package with a powdery substance. Izvestia source said that Bugayev had half a kilogram of mephedrone. It was reported that the ex-football player took the drug substance from the stash, planned to transport it to Sochi and sell it there. A criminal case was opened against him under Article 228.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Attempted sale of drugs on a large scale").

Lawyer Ekaterina Maklichenko said that Bugayev did not have drugs on him, as well as he did not resist the police. She said that the law enforcers took some papers from Bugayev. Maklichenko noted that the ex-football player signed everything that was given to him, and all these papers are now "passed off as the truth".

The ex-footballer was 42 years old. He played in the Moscow "Torpedo" and "Lokomotiv". In 2004-2005 Bugayev took part in seven matches of the Russian national team, after which he announced the end of his sports career.