Convicted Russian contract killer Alexei Sherstobitov has married his fourth wife behind bars just three years before his planned release, The Irish Sun reported.
The 59-year-old former gangland assassin, dubbed Russia’s “sexiest hitman” and known as Lyosha the Soldier, wed 48-year-old Yulia Gvozdetskaya. Yulia is a mother of two and a former civil servant who once worked as a senior specialist for Russia’s state pension system, and is now employed by a major Moscow construction company. Russian reports state that she wiped her social media accounts before the jailhouse wedding.
Sherstobitov is serving a 23-year jail sentence for his brutal gangland murders after working for the notorious Orekhovo-Medvedkovo mafia empire as an “in-house assassin”. He was commissioned to take out gang enemies after the fall of the Soviet Union. In April 1994 in Moscow, he shot and killed his most renowned target, 46-year-old mafia boss Otari Kvantrishvili.
Another confirmed kill was ex-KGB spy turned gang kingpin Grigory Gusyatinsky, who was murdered in 1995. The assassin was also reportedly once ordered to kill billionaire Boris Berezovsky with a Tigr sniper rifle, though higher-ups commanded him to abort the mission at the last minute. Berezovsky later died in still-unexplained circumstances while living in exile in England.
A master of disguise who owned an array of wigs, fake moustaches, and beards—alongside an arsenal of umbrellas with needle-like bladed tips designed to stab or poison victims—Sherstobitov threw authorities so many false leads that police initially believed the killings were the work of several hitmen.
Ultimately, it was Sherstobitov’s romantic pursuits that led to his eventual capture, after another gangster driven mad with jealousy after Sherstobitov “stole” his fiancée leaked the killer’s identity to police.
Despite being convicted of 12 murders and attempted murders, Sherstobitov has continually attracted female admirers while imprisoned. Prior to his imprisonment he had already tied the knot twice, and in 2016 he married the striking 31-year-old Marina Sosnenko in prison before their relationship ended in divorce four years later.
He has now recently found love for the second time while locked up, making Yulia his fourth wife just three years ahead of his scheduled release.