17:10, 15 March 2024Source: 

Mediazona

In March 2024, Novosibirsk resident Ulyana Gorbacheva  published  a thread on the X social network in which she talked about her friend Nikita Semyanov. Shortly before this, he returned from the war and became a “regular at military-patriotic events” in schools. In her thread, Gorbacheva called Semyanov a “murderer and rapist” who, as a teacher, had sex with girls aged 12–15. One of them later became his wife and gave birth to a daughter. According to Gorbacheva, Semyanov beat his wife and then killed her father, for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison. Mediazona told who Nikita Semyanov is.

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In March 2024, Novosibirsk resident Polina Semyanova received from her mother a link to  a post in the Z-public “Heroes of Russia – Novosibirsk”, dedicated to a meeting of local lyceum students with the military. Her ex-husband Nikita Semyanov was mentioned among the “honored guests” as a “volunteer fighter” and “participant in the memorable assault on Bakhmut.”

Shortly after this, the public “Heroes of Russia”  reported  on a new meeting of Semyanov – this time with “cadets of patriotic clubs.” At the same time, Polina published  a post about her ex-husband: “This man, my ex-husband and part-time murderer of my father, has been breaking my psyche since childhood. He killed one person – a murderer. Killed a lot of people – a hero, it turns out?”

The next day, Polina’s friend Ulyana Gorbacheva published  a thread on the social network X , in which she called Nikita “a pedophile and a murderer.” “In 2021, he killed my friend’s father and buried him under his house. Then he was imprisoned, but no less important is what he did not go to prison for. But he didn’t get jailed for pedophilia,” Ulyana wrote. 

In her thread, she said that Nikita, being a guitar teacher, had sex with girls aged 12–15. Among them was his future wife Polina, who at the age of 16 became pregnant by him, and about six months after the birth of the child ran away. “But her life has already been turned around, later she will get hooked on drugs and go to prison,” Ulyana wrote. 

She emphasized that Polina was “far from the only victim,” “speaking in the newspeak of the Russian Federation, the hero of the Northern Military District .” In particular, Nikita repeatedly tried to have sex with Ulyana herself, including threatening to kill her.

As Mediazona found out, Polina met Nikita when she was ten years old. Her parents sent her to the guitar club at the Pushkin Pedagogical Lyceum, which was led by an 18-year-old graduate of the same lyceum, Nikita Semyanov.

“I didn’t even know, I couldn’t even think what could come of this, because we trusted him,” Polina’s mother Veronika Makarenko told the publication. 

According to her, at the age of 12, her daughter became a “closed, difficult child.” Around the same time, Semyanov resigned from the lyceum. Some students continued to attend classes at his home. According to Polina, only girls did this. 

“He was like a teacher-psychologist. He helped a lot during adolescence. Then it seemed to me that he was a very wonderful person. We came to visit, talked, everything was fine there – nothing like that happened,” Veronica said. 

At the same time, four girls who visited Semyanov’s house told reporters that at that time any teenager who had nowhere to sleep or simply did not want to return home could come to him.

According to them, Semyanov had an “endless note” at home, which always contained alcohol. Mediazona’s interlocutors also said that often teenage girls were brought to Semyanov by his adult friends, and “drunken fun” in this company usually ended in “chaotic sex.”

“This cannot be called anything other than orgies with the participation of minors. He really constantly invited someone to visit him, and all this happened. He was not interested in women his age – his target audience was girls who still don’t understand a damn thing in this life,” said Ulyana.

Polina said that she first had sex with Semyanov at the age of 13, and Ekaterina at 14. According to Ulyana, there were “a dozen” underage girls who had sex with Semyanov.

“Specifically, he [Semyanov] started making advances towards Polina from the very beginning. She had, let’s say, a lot of unpleasant experiences in life, so attention from an adult man seemed flattering and pleasant to her,” said Ulyana.

In her opinion, as a result, Nikita involved Polina in an “openly abusive relationship.” Another interlocutor of the publication, Alisa, added that Polina was “morally, emotionally and financially” dependent on Semyanov and “could not get away from him.”

Polina moved to Semyanov at the age of 15. According to her, her parents let her go because Nikita was “some kind of image of morality” for them. At the same time, Polina’s mother said that she simply accepted her daughter’s decision: “She went through adolescence so cruelly that it seemed to me that it was better there than somewhere where they would get hooked on drugs or kill.” 

At the age of 16, Polina became pregnant. In May 2014, she and Semyanov got married, and in July their daughter was born. According to Polina, after the birth of the child, Nikita began to beat her regularly and once broke her nose. She did not seek help because of “attachment and childish naivety,” as well as fear that her husband would take revenge.

About six months after the birth of her daughter, Polina ran away to a friend. After that, she started drinking and later using drugs. Polina began making bookmarks, and a week later she was detained by the police. In January 2020, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced her to eight years in prison for attempted drug trafficking.

According to Polina, life with Semyanov broke her psyche. However, she calls her term a “second chance”: “I got rid of addictions, received an education, and plan to continue working in my specialty and improve my qualifications. It’s all for the better, and everything I’ve been through has ultimately made me who I am today.”

After Polina’s escape, Semyanov had a new friend, Zhanna, who was the same age as him and had a daughter. They got married in 2016 and divorced at the end of 2022. According to Zhanna, “nothing obscene or inappropriate” happened in the house with her, but she refused to answer questions about the reasons for the divorce. At the same time, her friend Irina, in a conversation with Mediazona, called Nikita a “classic abuser.”

In particular, she said that soon after the wedding Semyanov started drinking and began beating his new wife and his own daughter. “Zhanna said terrible things, I don’t have censorship words to describe them. I understand perfectly well what an abusive hook is, and I think that at some point he simply broke her, like his previous wife. I tried to pull her out, but I couldn’t,” said Irina.

In April 2021, even before Nikita’s second divorce, Polina’s father Alexander Makarenko disappeared. As Mediazona clarifies, after his daughter’s escape, Alexander visited his granddaughter and gradually became friends with Semyanov. In particular, they repaired a car together. Before his disappearance, Alexander managed to warn his loved ones that he was going with Nikita to fix the heating in the garage. When he did not return, his relatives contacted the police and Lisa Alert volunteers. Semyanov himself and his wife took part in the search for Alexander. 

Almost a month later, Nikita was detained by members of the Grom special forces on suspicion of murdering Alexander. According to investigators, a quarrel occurred between Semyanov and Makarenko, during which Nikita began to strangle Alexander. After his ex-father-in-law lost consciousness, Semyanov put a plastic bag over his head and continued to strangle him, tying a wire around his neck. Nikita buried Alexander’s body on his plot.

In May 2022, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novosibirsk sentenced Semyanov to nine years in a maximum security colony, considering the presence of two young children as a mitigating circumstance. It is unclear when Nikita was released. However, an acquaintance of Polina, who was serving time in a colony, told her in April 2023 that Semyanov had gone to war. 

Nikita Semyanov refused to answer journalists’ questions. His father, Vladimir Semyanov, threatened Mediazona with criminal liability for “fakes” about the army, promising to contact the prosecutor’s office. Nikita’s mother Valentina, who refused to talk to journalists, began to threaten Polina’s mother. “Yes, I’ll go to the prosecutor’s office, and I’ll rot you there for life, and I’ll give Polina a fun life – she’ll go back to the zone!” – Veronica recalls her words.

(C)MEDUZA 2024