The defendant in the case of the deadly sewer tour had his sentence commuted

Alexander Kim, the former CEO of the Sputnik tour search and booking service, had his sentence commuted for six months in the case of deaths in the Neglinka River reservoir. This was announced on August 4 by a correspondent of Izvestia from the courtroom of the Second Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction.

"To reclassify Kim's actions from Part 3 of Article 238 ("Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products, performance of works or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements") to Part 5 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Part 3 of Article 238 ("Complicity in the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements, resulting in death of two or more persons due to negligence"), which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five years," the judge announced the decision.

Thus, Kim's actions were reclassified as aiding and abetting the provision of services that did not meet safety requirements and negligently caused the death of two or more persons.

A verdict has been passed in the case of a deadly excursion along the Neglinka River. What you need to know about diggers

In April 2025, Kim and the second person involved in the case, Nikita Dubas, the organizer of underground excursions, were sentenced to 5 years, 6 months, and 8 years, 6 months in a penal colony, respectively. Kim did not admit his guilt, Dubas partially admitted it.

A group of people accompanied by a guide went on a tour of the Neglinka River underground reservoir in Moscow on August 20, 2023. Due to the downpour, the water level in the underground utilities rose sharply and people could not escape. The bodies of all those who went down into the sewer, including the guide Konstantin Filippov and two teenagers, were found in the Moskva River.

Dubas and Kim were arrested. They were charged with providing services that do not meet security requirements, committed by a group of people by prior agreement. Alexander Lazovsky, General director of the Avangard tour bureau, who is also a defendant in the case, left Russia and was put on the wanted list. In September 2024, it became known that Kim and Dubas were trying to hide the traces of a crime.

The offices of the companies that organized the descents underground were searched. Then it turned out that the travel agency that initiated the tour was not officially registered.