Telegram channel associated with PMC "Wagner" posts a video of alleged execution of another Russian prisoner

Photo: BBC

Telegram channel "Grey Zone", which is considered to have ties to the PMC "Wagner", posted a video of another alleged extrajudicial execution of a Russian prisoner who, it is claimed, had gone to war in Ukraine as part of the group, but later voluntarily surrendered, Radio Liberty writes.

In the video (the authenticity of which is yet to be verified), the victim of the alleged murder calls himself Dmitri Yakuschenko and says he was born in Crimea. Looking into the camera, the man says that he had gone to the front line from prison, but then realized that "this was not his war." He then claims that while he was in Dnipro city, he was hit on the head and fainted, then came to in a basement, where he was told that he would be "tried". All this time, a person with a sledgehammer in his hands is standing behind Yakuschenko's back. At the end of the video, he strikes the prisoner on the head several times.

The Russian BBC service notes that in the "Grey Zone" video inculdes not only the alleged murder, but also excerpts from an interview given by Yakushchenko back in November 2022, after he surrendered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At that time, he said that before 2014, he had been sentenced to 19 years in prison, but was later transferred to the colony in Engels, Saratov Region. There, he was recruited into PMC "Wagner".

Yakuschenko also said that even before going to the front line, he had planned to "find some kind of loophole" and "just run away." He carried out his plan near Bakhmut. In the same interview, Yakuschenko expressed hope that Crimea would be Ukraine again.

"Grey Zone" calls Yakuschenko a "traitor" who, "like his fellow Evgeniy Nuzhin, woke up in a basement at his last trial."

As IMI reported, the video of Evgeniy Nuzhin's alleged murder was posted on November 12 by the "Grey Zone" Telegram channel. Nuzhin served his term in Ryazan region. Wagner PMC recruited him to fight in Ukraine, where he was captured by the UAF. Later, Evgeniy Prigozhin then called the video of Nuzhin being executed "wonderful filmmaking."

The Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment said that Russian citizen Egveniy Nuzhin, who was allegedly executed by Wagner PMC militants, is not on the list of POWs who surrendered voluntarily.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, said that "Wagner" PMC mercenary Evgeniy Nuzhin had consented to go to Russia as part of the prisoner exchange with Ukraine.