Ukraine: Wagner chief comments on execution of soldier accused of desertion

The head of the Wagner group, a mercenary group fighting the Russian army in Ukraine, commented Sunday on the execution of one of his former members who was accused of deserting with a sledgehammer to his head.

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Telegram accounts close to Wagner posted a video showing a man with his skull stuck to a rock and being hit in the head with a mace. According to these sources, it would be a soldier of the group who deliberately surrendered to the Ukrainian army, but was later recaptured by the Russians.

“In this show, (this man) did not find his happiness in Ukraine, but we see that he met ruthless, but fair people,” Evguéni Prigojine, head of Wagner, was quoted as saying on Sunday by its press office.

“It’s an amazing realization job that can be seen in one sitting. I hope no animals were harmed during the filming,” added Mr. Prigozhin.

AFP cannot confirm the authenticity of this video or its authors.

The video is made up of three parts: the first two show a man, who introduces himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, known to journalists after being captured, who voluntarily surrendered to the Ukrainian army to fight “against Putin”.

The last piece shows this same man with his face plastered in stone, claiming to have surrendered on September 4. He was then hit with a hammer.

Gulagu.net, an NGO specializing in protecting prisoners in Russia, says Yevgeny Nushin was a prisoner recruited from a Russian penal colony to fight in Ukraine.

The NGO asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to shed light on why the man, after surrendering, would fall back into Russian hands. Gulagu.net mentions two possibilities: he may have been kidnapped in Kyiv-controlled territory or exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners.

Since 2014, Wagner Group mercenaries have been accused of serving the interests of Vladimir Putin’s regime and committing abuses in many conflict zones, from Syria to Ukraine, from Africa to the United States, and from the South to the United States.

Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta has previously claimed, with video support, that Wagner’s men beat a prisoner in Syria with sledgehammers, then cut off his head and burned it.

In recent months, the group has been active on the Ukrainian front in support of the Russian military. He is suspected of visiting Russian prisons to recruit prisoners in exchange for a reduced sentence.

In September, Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, admitted to founding the paramilitary organization after years of denials. This week, he boasted about his electoral influence operations in the US.