The resumption of the search for the Usoltsev family in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. What is known

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in early June 2026, a large—scale search for the Usoltsev family resumed - Sergei, Irina and their five-year-old daughter Arina, who went missing in the taiga in September 2025. The Investigative Committee organized additional search activities involving about 80 people. The investigation of the criminal case is ongoing, the official version is an accident, but criminal theories are also being put forward in the media. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

Resumption of the search in June 2026

The Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia announced the start of additional search activities in the case of the missing family. About 80 people are involved in the operation.: rescue services, law enforcement agencies, specialists from the Gosokhotnadzor service, members of the LizaAlert search and rescue squad, dog handlers and volunteers.

The search engines use unmanned aerial vehicles, off-road vehicles, motorized vehicles and forensic equipment. Criminologists have identified specific search areas along walking routes in the direction of Kuturchinsky Belogorye.

Chronology of the family's disappearance

The Usoltsev family — 64-year-old Sergey, 48-year-old Irina and their five-year-old daughter Arina — went on a hiking trip near the Manskaya Loop and the village of Kuturchin on September 28, 2025. Initially, the route was planned as part of a group, but the couple decided to set off on their own, taking a corgi dog with them.

The alarm was sounded on October 2, when the tourists did not return and did not get in touch. At the foot of the mountain range, the Usoltsevs' car was found, in the cabin of which all valuables, documents, as well as a child's seat with toys were left.

A search operation in the fall of 2025

The initial search was one of the largest in the history of the region. In total, over 1,550 people from nine regions of the country participated in the operations. During the search, volunteers and rescuers combed 515 km of forest roads and surveyed 40 square kilometers of forest.

On October 10, rescuers managed to reach the place where the signal of Sergei Usoltsev's mobile phone was last recorded, but this did not give any clues. The active phase of the search was completed with the onset of cold weather.

The main versions of the disappearance

Various versions of the incident were put forward during the investigation.:

• An accident (the official version of the UK). The Regional Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation considers an accident as the main version. Rescuers admit that the family could have suffered from an attack by wild animals, fallen into the gorge or died from hypothermia.
• The criminal version. The new version, which appeared in June 2026, suggests that the Usoltsevs could have been the victim of a planned crime. Researcher Valentin Degterev pointed out the strangeness — businessman Sergei Usoltsev took a large amount of cash on a hike (300 thousand rubles, discovered by investigators during a search of the car). According to the expert, the trip could not be a vacation, but a meeting with extortionists.
• The version about the Old Believers. Previously, it was suggested that the family could have reached the settlement of the Old Believers. However, the search engines refuted this version as untenable. Ekaterina Irzhakova, an employee of the administration of the village of Yartsevo, noted that "if the Usoltsevs had appeared in their area, they would have found out about it."

Why haven't any footprints been found?

In the seven months since the disappearance, not a single trace of the disappeared has been found. Svetlana Torgashina, head of the regional public organization Search for Missing Children, who participated in the search, said: "Unfortunately, nothing like this was found in those days — neither parking spots, nor places where people stayed, nor bonfires."

Experts note that severe weather conditions in the taiga (heavy snow, low temperatures) could quickly hide any traces of human presence, which significantly complicated the work of rescuers.

Investigation of the criminal case

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case into the disappearance of the family. It is being investigated under the article "Murder", which is standard practice in such cases and provides the investigation with more opportunities to work out all versions.

The son of the missing Irina Usoltseva, Danil Batalov, participates in the search and refutes speculative versions that appear on the Internet.