Pro-Russian soldiers are said to have brutally killed an ex-mercenary and filmed the act. Now the son of the alleged victim speaks.
Now the family of the alleged victim, Yevgeny Nushin, spoke in an interview with the Russian human rights group Gulagu.net. The organization deals with alleged abuses in the Russian prison system. Nushin’s son Ilya said his family learned of their father’s death through Telegram and were “appalled”. “Our whole family burst into tears when we saw the video. He was murdered like an animal.”
Yevgeny Nushin is said to have defected to Ukrainian troops in September and was possibly brutally executed as a result. Read more here.
Human rights activist: “There are many questions”
The head of Gulagu.net, Vladimir Osechkin, told the British “Guardian”: “There are many questions and I hope that we will get to the bottom of the matter.” Ukraine had a responsibility to Nushin and he should not have been replaced given the dangers he faced in Russia, the human rights activist said. According to unconfirmed reports, Nushin was part of a recent Russian-Ukrainian prisoner exchange.
Osechkin said everything pointed to Wagner’s involvement in the assassination and that he planned to ask the Russian authorities to open a criminal case. “Wagner could not have committed this medieval execution without the consent of the Russian security services,” said the director of Gulagu.net.
Wagner mercenaries fight in the Ukraine war
The Wagner mercenary group was founded in May 2014 to send fighters to the Ukrainian Donbass, Yevgeny Prigozhin recently admitted for the first time. From this point on, “a group of patriots” was born, which “later received the name Battalion Tactical Group Wagner”.
It has seen service in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but is not an official part of the Russian forces. Nevertheless, the mercenaries also fight in the Ukraine war. The Wagner group has long been suspected of searching for recruits in Russian prisons and also recruiting convicted violent criminals.
Prigozhin is considered a close ally of the Russian President and is also known as “Putin’s cook”.
