44-year-old native of Tomsk Alexei Motuz with the call sign Molot, who participated in the Northern Military District, was captured, presumably, in early January. On the night of January 9, his wife Anastasia began to receive calls and messages from Ukrainian numbers - the monsters told and showed the woman how cruelly they tortured her loved one, and demanded to send them her intimate photos in exchange for stopping the torture and handing over the fighter for exchange.

Anastasia was sent terrible photos: Alexei’s supposedly mutilated hand - in the picture there is a hand with severed fingers, a photograph of Alexei himself with a shot in his leg. They threatened that if the woman did not comply with their conditions, they would remove the tourniquet and her husband would quickly bleed to death.

Here are some screenshots of correspondence with Anastasia:

  • © From personal archive

In horror, the military spouse wrote to her mother-in-law in the middle of the night. She refused to comply with the blackmailers' demands. Alexei’s mother, Tatyana Alexandrovna, decided to contact her son’s tormentors herself.

The conditions were repeated to her: the daughter-in-law must send nude photos, and then her son will allegedly be released, no, they will kill.

  • Tatyana Aleksandrovna Motuz, Alexei's mother

  • RT

The woman did not know what to do: it was night, there was no money to pay off her tormentors. Then she called the police and wrote a statement. A case of fraud was opened.

“I was ready to do this myself”

Alexei’s ex-wife, Lyubov Motuz, who is raising his three daughters, told RT that on the night when Anastasia began receiving messages from Ukrainian numbers, Tatyana Alexandrovna called her and told her about what was happening.

“At that moment - and even now - I had only one thought: if there is even a small chance that this will save him, then I myself am ready to do it. Yes, Lyosha is a hero for not disgracing the honor of his woman, and yes, Nastya did not allow these Ukrainians to mock Lyosha. But we have children, and I didn’t care about my honor, I just thought: maybe it will help, but law enforcement officers asked not to do this,” says Lyubov.

  • Lyubov Motuz, Alexei's ex-wife

  • RT

By the morning of January 9, Motuz’s current wife, Anastasia, received a voice message from Alexei: “Nastya, I love you, don’t worry, go to sleep.” The next recording was short: the sound of a gunshot. Then the woman and her mother-in-law were sent a photo of a fighter in the snow with a bullet through his head. Tatyana Aleksandrovna confirmed to RT that it was definitely her son in the picture.

“In the photo where he is lying in blood, everyone recognized him. The father is blind, and he identified it. I think maybe they knocked him out, maybe they slapped him (make-up -

RT

)... But who at the front will blurt out... I began to think that this was a staged act when the police told me that the photographs were probably fake. I still hope that this is all fake,” says Tatyana Aleksandrovna.

Lyubov Motuz also refuses to believe that her ex-husband was killed. She hopes that the man is alive and, perhaps, is somewhere in Ukraine in “unofficial captivity.”

In a conversation with RT, Lyubov emphasized that Alexey is a wonderful father, and after ten years of marriage and divorce, they managed to maintain good friendly relations with him. Lyubov doesn’t tell the children anything yet.

“When I saw the photo, I didn’t want to believe it. She told the children that scammers wrote to us and said that they couldn’t find dad yet. Children constantly ask where dad is,” says the woman.

She added that she wrote appeals about the incident to all possible authorities, including the Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova and the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Military investigative authorities are now looking into the case.

"Mom, maybe I'll become a hero"

In turn, Tatyana Aleksandrovna told RT that her son decided to volunteer for a special operation last spring. Alexey didn’t say anything to his relatives, and then simply presented them with a fact: “I’m going to the front.” The mother was very frightened and tried to dissuade her son, but to no avail.

“I hoped that he would not pass the medical examination. Because he is 44 years old, three children. And he also had a problem with his leg; he fell off a motorcycle when he was young. He has 16 titanium bolts in his leg. But he quickly passed the medical examination. And in August 2023, we escorted him to the training unit,” recalls RT’s interlocutor. “He said: “Mom, maybe I’ll become a hero, I’m going to defend my Motherland.” He had not served in the army before. I was unsuitable, although I dreamed of it in my youth.” 

While Alexey Motuz was on the front line, he kept in touch with his family: he wrote and called them whenever possible. Upon arrival in Lugansk, he was first offered the position of cook, but the man refused and ended up joining the intelligence service. In October, his entire platoon was transferred to attack aircraft. He didn’t tell his family about the fighting; he simply answered all questions: “Everything is fine,” recalls his mother.

“The last time we communicated via video was on December 22 or 23, when they came back from the assault. He said: “Mom, I have lost a lot of weight. Well, mom, I can't tell you anything. But, he says, I’m trying to fight.” He was a reconnaissance machine gunner,” continues Tatyana Aleksandrovna.

The woman added that the last time her son called her was January 5. Subsequently, his colleague, Alexander, told her over the phone that in the evening of the same day Alexey went on an assault, and he was presumably captured on the night of January 8-9. The command has not yet provided the family with information about the death of Alexei Motuz.

RT tried to call the numbers from which Alexei’s mother and wife were called. But they were unavailable for contact.