Prof Sokolov enjoyed dressing up as Napoleon

A well-known Russian historian has confessed to murdering his lover, his lawyer says, after he was found in a river with a backpack containing a woman’s arms.

Oleg Sokolov, 63, was drunk and fell into the river as he tried to dispose of body parts, Russian media said.

Police then found the decapitated body of Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24, at his home in the city of St Petersburg.

Prof Sokolov is a Napoleon expert who has received France’s Légion d’Honneur.

“He has admitted his guilt,” his lawyer Alexander Pochuyev told AFP, adding that he regretted what he had done and was now cooperating.

Prof Sokolov reportedly told police that he killed his lover during an argument and then sawed off her head, arms and legs.

He is said to have planned to get rid of the body before publicly taking his own life dressed as Napoleon.

Mr Pochuyev said Prof Sokolov – who has been receiving hospital treatment for hypothermia – may have been under stress.