In the town of Slantsy, Leningrad Region, 19 people died after drinking surrogate alcohol. Laboratory tests confirmed methanol poisoning in eight of the victims, while another person remains in extremely critical condition.
The series of deaths began on September 24, when a 54-year-old man from the village of Gostitsy died just two hours after being hospitalized. That same evening, a 69-year-old resident of the area also passed away. Later, the bodies of a 42-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman were found in a house in Gostitsy. On September 25, another couple, both aged 46, were discovered dead in the same village, while in nearby Slantsy, a 60-year-old woman also died. Her 39-year-old son was hospitalized in moderate condition. With new cases emerging, the death toll has risen to nearly 20 people.
Several men died before the eyes of their wives after drinking the toxic alcohol.
“He crawled in, couldn’t stand or speak, whispered: ‘I’m dying,’ and then lost consciousness,”
recounted the wife of one of the victims, Yuri S. Despite calling emergency services, her husband could not be saved.
Another man, 69-year-old Boris, also died in his wife’s presence. She revealed that many locals regularly bought alcohol from Nikolai Boytsov, who has since been detained. While large-scale poisonings had not occurred before, residents said that “every year in Slantsy, someone died from moonshine,” and in one case, a woman lost the use of her legs after consuming it.
Illegal Trade and Seized Surrogate Stock
Locals reported that Boytsov often sold alcohol on credit or at reduced prices when villagers were desperate. Operational footage taken during the investigation showed a suspected storage site filled with numerous canisters of surrogate alcohol, prepared for illegal distribution.
