A video circulating on the Internet is said to show the murder of a former Russian mercenary. The man is said to be Yevgeny Nushin (55). According to Ukrainian media, Nushin was a murderer convicted in Russia who, like thousands of prisoners, was recruited for the Russian war in Ukraine. There he defected to the Ukraine at the front on September 4th.
Background: Russia is said to recruit mercenaries from prisons
Propaganda video published in Telegram
In the video that has now been released, Nushin talks about himself that he has changed sides and is now fighting the Russians, but was kidnapped from Ukraine. The fixed Nushin is then killed with a sledgehammer by an unknown perpetrator in uniform. The perpetrators and the location are not clear from the video.
A pro-Russian Telegram channel published a video compilation on November 12. In this first edited video interviews by Yevgeny Nushin with the Ukrainian journalist are shown, in which he describes his motives for fleeing to Ukraine. At the end follows the video showing the murder of Nushin.
Ukrainian and Russian sources assume a murder by members of the Russian mercenary group “Wagner”, who killed their ex-colleague for defecting to Ukraine. It is currently unclear whether he was kidnapped by mercenaries, captured at the front on the Ukrainian side, or exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“Wagner” founder recruits prisoners – and agrees to murder
The private mercenary group “Wagner” is accused of several war crimes in Libya, Mali, Syria and Ukraine. A video is known from Syria in which in 2017 “Wagner” mercenaries tortured and killed a man with a hammer.
Read more: Mali: UN report hints at massacres by Russian mercenaries
The mercenary group has close ties through its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The members are often former Russian soldiers – the group is known as “Putin’s shadow army”.
“Wagner” founder Prigoschin is said to have described the murdered Nuschin as a “traitor” and commented on the video with disparaging remarks about the dead man.
A video was released in September showing Prigozhin in a Russian prison recruiting inmates who go on to fight in Ukraine. Prigozhin is on the sanctions lists of the European Union and the USA.
Read more: Mercenaries from Putin’s shadow army unpack
Ex-mercenary saw himself as “cannon fodder”
Yevgeny Nushin had told the Ukrainian media that the recruited prisoners like him received only a few days of training and were intended as “cannon fodder”.
According to the British “Sun”, he is said to leave behind a wife and two sons, both of whom served in the Russian army themselves.
Tags: Propaganda Russian mercenary group Wagner killed exmember
