The number of crimes involving teenagers has increased in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

      March 28, 2026 07:00 Incidents An increase in the number of crimes involving minors has been recorded in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The most tense situation is observed in Nizhny Novgorod and Dzerzhinsk, as well as in the Bor, Vad, Vetluzhsky, Vorotynsky, Navashinsky, Pavlovsky, and Pochinkovsky districts, reported Yuri Arsentyev, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region, speaking on March 27 at a meeting of the regional Legislative Assembly. According to him, recently, teenagers are increasingly being deliberately involved in criminal and diversionary-terrorist activities. Minors are becoming the focus of foreign intelligence services, which monitor their interests on social networks and group chats. Malefactors infiltrate online communities, gather information, and spread false information. False messages about terrorist threats may be sent on behalf of minors. To stop such actions, the criminals demand money or the execution of illegal tasks. Similar cases have been registered in the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the same time, as Arsentyev noted, based on the results of the reporting period, the number of crimes committed by minors decreased by 19.7% and amounted to 640. A total of 461 teenagers committed illegal acts. For instance, two teenagers from the Lenin district and Nizhny Novgorod set fire to a cellular base station. The court found them guilty of committing a terrorist act and sentenced each to six years in prison. Similar crimes have been solved by transport police officers. The aggressive behavior of teenagers raises separate concerns. In March 2025, at school No. 117, a student who was bullied inflicted stab wounds on his classmates. A criminal case regarding the attempted murder is being considered in court. In the current year, similar incidents have been recorded in Dzerzhinsk and Bogorodsk. At the same time, as analysis shows, participants in such incidents are most often raised in seemingly well-off families, are positively characterized at their place of study, and do not have conflicts with peers. Based on the results of 2025, for the first time in a long period, an increase in the number of minors brought to criminal responsibility has been noted. One in three of them committed a serious crime, and one in seven committed an offense in the field of information technology. It was previously reported that in the Nizhny Novgorod region, it was proposed to expand the list of police officers with regional payments. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" has a Telegram channel. Subscribe to stay updated on the main events, exclusive materials, and operational information. Copyright © 1999—2025 NIA "Nizhny Novgorod". When reprinting, a hyperlink to NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" is mandatory. This resource may contain materials 18+