Ilya Zhestkov

Ilya Zhestkov (; 1945 – 1971), known as The Primorsk Chikatilo , was a Soviet serial killer and rapist. After initially killing a male acquaintance in Vladivostok in May 1968, he went on to rape and murder four young girls and women until September of that year, presenting himself as a movie director.

Following his arrest, he was tried, convicted on all counts, and subsequently executed.

Early life Ilya Zhestkov was born in 1945 in the Tomsk Oblast, where he grew up in an environment surrounded by poverty and criminality. Most of his relatives, including his older brother, sister, and uncle, were repeat offenders and were prosecuted for a variety of crimes between the mid-1950s and the mid-1960s.

After graduating from high school, Zhestkov was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1963, where he served in the Navy's Pacific Fleet and reached the rank of michman. Upon completion of his compulsory service, Zhestkov volunteered to continue his service and remained in the Navy, where he was eventually transferred to the Pacific Fleet's headquarters in Vladivostok. While drinking alcoholic beverages, a quarrel arose between them, after which they went outside to talk it out – however, Zhestkov pulled out his naval dirk and stabbed Lichenko 14 times. Later on, Zhestkov would claim that this killing made him realize that it's better to live in the moment, after which he decided to commit further murders to satisfy his sexual desires. Since Vladivostok was classified as a closed city and it was well known that the movie was shot there, his claims did not arouse suspicion in his victims, who willingly accompanied him. In the end, Zhestkov was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death by Judge Ivan Rimkunas – upon hearing the verdict, Zhestkov burst into tears and begged for forgiveness from the victims' relatives. He also expressed apparent regret for the crimes, and asked for mercy from the court.

In the following months, Zhestkov sent multiple appeals to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, but all of them were ignored. Not long after his appeals were exhausted in early 1971, he was executed in Vladivostok's SIZO-1, but the exact date is unknown.

In media and literature Antoine Casse and Irina Kapitanova (2023). The phenomenon of Russian maniacs. The first large-scale study of maniacs and serial killers from the times of tsarism, the USSR and the Russian Federation (Russian: Феномен российских маньяков. Первое масштабное исследование маньяков и серийных убийц времен царизма, СССР и РФ), Eksmo, ISBN 5046081180