A video allegedly showing the execution of a Russian mercenary attempting to switch sides and fight for Ukraine circulated on Russian social media on Sunday, where it was confirmed by a senior Kremlin official who killed the man denounced as a traitor.
The footage, which appears to show the man making a confession before being killed with a sledgehammer while lying on the ground, came amid heightened blame within Russia over backlash by its forces in Ukraine and calls from hard-line nationalists for more brutal methods to turn the tide in Moscow’s favor. The recent turnaround saw Russian forces withdraw from Kherson, the only regional capital they captured that year.
In the video, which was published on a Telegram channel often linked to the Wagner Group mercenary company in Russian media, the man identified himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, a former prison inmate who said he had earlier this year left his post “to fight the Russians. ”
Ukrainian troops were cheered by residents of Kherson as they entered the strategic city after Moscow withdrew its troops. The WSJ examines how Russia went from conquering to losing the regional capital in one of its greatest symbolic defeats in the war. Pictured: Adele Morgan
Mr Nuzhin, speaking with his hands tied and taped to a cement block, gave his name and date of birth and said he switched sides on September 4.
But he said he was kidnapped after arriving in Ukraine last week and woke up in the basement where he was being held. His captors, he said, “told me I should be brought to justice.”
After he said those words, a man standing behind him struck him in the neck with a sledgehammer. Mr. Nuzhin fell backwards and the man hit him with another sledgehammer on the ground.
The Telegram channel that showed the video, the Gray Zone, captioned it “The Hammer of Revenge.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, heads the Wagner Group mercenary firm.
Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky/Associated Press
The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but the head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, appeared to believe him in the comments posted on social media. Mr. Nuzhin was also known to western journalists in Ukraine. The Kremlin has not publicly commented on the footage, and Mr Prigozhin could not be immediately reached for comment beyond what he said online.
Mr Nuzhin was captured by Ukrainian forces in September and gave a wide-ranging interview to a Ukrainian military journalist, in which he gave an insight into the work of Mr Prigozhin’s mercenary group, which has recently been recruited from Russian prisons to bolster the country’s ranks to expand volunteers and professional mercenaries.
Mr Nuzhin said he was a convicted killer who joined the Wagner group in exchange for a pardon and that he, along with other inmates, was personally recruited by Mr Prigozhin when the Wagner boss flew to a prison yard by helicopter in the Russian provincial town had flown from Ryazan.
At the front, he said, prison recruits were being used as cannon fodder. After joining a unit that was nearly wiped out by Ukrainian artillery in the first two days, Mr Nuzhin said he switched sides to fight Russia.
How it got into Russian hands could not be determined.
In response to a question about the video, Mr. Prigozhin issued a statement on his group’s Telegram account, saying that Mr. Nuzhin was a traitor and that the video should be called “For the dog, the death of a dog.”
“Nuzhin betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed them on purpose,” Mr. Prigozhin’s statement said. “The Russian people, the Russians genetically smell treachery.”
A staunch ally of Mr. Putin, Mr. Prigozhin and his Wagner group have for years helped implement Russia’s military interventions abroad. His influence within Russia grew with the war in Ukraine, he recruited additional volunteers for the Wagner Group, and blamed Russia’s professional military for the failures of its forces on the battlefield.
Write to Alan Cullison at [email protected]
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