The course of circumstances: those responsible for the tragedy in the collector were sentenced

The court handed down a verdict in the case of the deaths of eight people during a tour of the underground collector of the capital in the summer of 2023. Alexander Kim, the founder of the Sputnik booking service, was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison, and Nikita Dubas, the organizer, to 8.5 years. The investigation found that the participants of the dangerous walk did not have any means of protection and rescue. Earlier, the prosecutor requested six and nine years in prison for Kim and Dubas. Nevertheless, the relatives of the victims were satisfied with the court's decision.

Who is to blame for the tragic excursion

On April 28, the Meshchansky court of Moscow announced the verdict in the case of the deaths of seven tourists and a guide in the collector of Moscow in the summer of 2023. The investigation and the court found that in 2021-2023 Nikita Dubas, without the approval of the controlling organization, organized excursions with illegal entry into sewers in the center of Moscow. Their deceased guide, Konstantin Filippov, conducted them.

According to the Investigative Committee, ads for such excursions were posted by Alexander Kim, head of Sputnik, Alexander Lazovsky, CEO of Avangard LLC, and Boris Plotsa, owner of the Tripster website, in agreement with Dubas. But only Dubas and Kim were in the dock. Lazovsky and Plotitsa were arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list. The criminal case against Konstantin Filippov was terminated due to his death.

During a tour of the Neglinnaya River on August 20, 2023, seven people, including two minors, under the leadership of Konstantin Filippov, penetrated underground utilities and structures through a sewer hatch on Durov Street in Moscow, the Investigative Committee reported, restoring the chronology of events. During the walk, when all the participants were already on the route, heavy rain began, water flooded the underground utilities.

"In the absence of protective and rescue equipment, all this led to the death of all participants in the excursion," the department stated.

What do the relatives of the victims say about the court's decision

As Izvestia reported, the travel agency Sputnik LLC, which led groups of diggers through the dungeons, including into the collector of the Neglinka River, was not officially registered, but at the same time sold tickets for Dubas excursions — illegal. Kim pleaded not guilty either during the debate or in court on April 28. Dubas recognized her partially.

The court sentenced Nikita Dubas to eight and a half years in prison, he will serve his term in a general regime colony. Alexander Kim was given five years and six months, with the same conditions of serving his sentence. They were charged with Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — on the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements, which caused the death of two or more people. The prosecution demanded that Kim be sentenced to six years in prison, Dubas to nine years.

The mother of a teenage girl who died in the sewer, Yulia Schneider, expressed satisfaction with the court's decision, although during the debate on April 24, 2025, she called for the maximum sentences of ten years in prison for the accused.

— For me, the maximum sentence for those responsible for my daughter's death is no longer important. The main thing is that the incident has been made public and I hope the laws regarding aggregators for booking excursions will be tightened," she told Izvestia.

The woman said that she had let her daughter go on a field trip with her friend, also a minor, and his uncle Dmitry. She was assured that the route was absolutely safe.

"I had my doubts until the last moment, I didn't want to let my daughter go on a field trip, but you can't argue with a stubborn teenager," said Julia Schneider.

During the hearing, the judge said that the relatives of the victims had abandoned civil claims against Kim, and they had been brought against Dubas for a total amount of 14 million rubles. Ten people filed claims against him, eight of them filed lawsuits in the amount of 2 million rubles. The court partially satisfied them, but the details of the decision were not disclosed.

How has the legislation on the organization of excursions changed?

After the deaths of people in the collector at Neglinnaya in the fall of 2023, legislation in the field of organizing and conducting excursions began to tighten. Thus, starting from March 1, 2025, a mandatory condition for the activities of guides and translation guides came into force.

Now each guide must have a personal card with a special QR code. In the middle of spring this year, most of the guides were certified in St. Petersburg (1784) and Moscow (927). There are already a little more than 11 thousand people in the register of legal guides. You can check the license information in the Register of Guides and Translation Guides on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development.

At the same time, sanctions for this violation will not be applied yet — the law on making appropriate amendments to the Administrative Code has not yet been adopted. In November 2024, it passed the first reading in the State Duma. According to the proposed amendments, a fine of 10 thousand rubles will be imposed for a tour without certification, and for repeated violations it will increase to 50 thousand rubles. The government gave a positive review to the document, but demanded to coordinate it with the executive authorities of the regions.

Lawyer Vitaly Ulianenko believes that such a tightening of the guides' working conditions alone will not help.

"To prevent such situations from occurring again, supervisors are required to minimize access to dungeons and other dangerous facilities," the expert emphasized. — If they had conducted careful monitoring of the facilities and had not allowed anyone in, the tragedy in 2023 could have been avoided.

And the specialist recommended that citizens who are going on an excursion always check whether the organization that provides such a service is registered.