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Vladimir Mikhailovich Ionessian () (; born in Tbilisi in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia in the USSR and shot and executed in Moscow, Moscow) is a Soviet serial killer of Armenian origin, operating in Moscow and Ivanovo from the 19th century. Ionessian entered the apartments, pretending to be an agent of the state-owned company Mosgaz, which was the origin of his nickname during the investigation. Contrary to his habit of denying the existence of , communist censorship recognizes and mediates the case of Ionessian. He is thus considered one of the first if not the first Soviet serial killer. He admits he committed five murders.

Biography
Ionessian was born to an Armenian family in Tbilisi. Her parents encourage her passion for music and singing and enrol her in the music school. He continued his studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatory. At the end of the second year, he began to work in the theatre where he remained until .
His previous convictions are controversial. The first version says that the young Ionessian arrested for theft, in 1954, was sentenced to five years' suspended sentence and subsequently served two and a half years in prison after trying to escape military service. But according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda he tried to escape military service only in 1959, which earned him a two-year sentence in Gori camp. Upon discharge, he is exempt from military service after a neurological examination. He married a student from the Tbilisi conservatory, a certain Medea. They have a son. Ionessian is again involved in a theft case and sentenced to five years suspended. The family moved to Orenburg where Ionessian worked as a tenor in the musical theatre.

In the month of , one of his friends introduced him to a young ballerina, Alevtina Dmitrieva, who arrived from Kazan to look for work. Ionessian is losing his mind. To seduce Dmitrieva, he promised to find him a place in the theatre of Orenburg. But after a trial, she's not hired. To give himself importance to his mistress and to hold her back, Ionessian tells him that he is an agent of the KGB and that he must leave for the capital. He also told him that he inherited a large sum of money from his uncle who died in Germany. He makes no concrete plan, he improvises. Both are leaving for Moscow. Ionessian leaves her job and her family. According to other sources, he had already abandoned his wife and son in Tbilisi. In Moscow, Ionessian and Dmitrieva rent an apartment at the number 2 Mechtchanskaya street (-) near Riga railway station at a retired woman. Very quickly, they find themselves in need of money. No theatre in the capital wants them. Ionessian continues in lies, telling Dmitrieva that she no longer needs to work because he received an increase. He also explains that he must