Russian Convict Killed in Ukraine Deserted by Sledgehammer

• To help Russia defeat the war in Ukraine, convicts and mercenaries were recruited.
• One convict, who was recruited to Wagner Group, deserted and gave himself up to Ukrainian forces.
• Telegram captured his execution shortly after he was returned to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Since then, the soldiers complained of being unorganized, under-armed and under-trained. Many expressed reluctance to enter into battles for which there wasn’t enough preparation.

A New York Times investigation published Saturday recounting Russia’s numerous blundersDuring the war additional details were revealed about a specific group of soldiers: convicted criminals, and mercenaries. Wagner, a notorious mercenary organization led by Yevgeny Privozhin, an ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, recruited many of these men.

Prigozhin, a Russian businessman, and restaurateur is also known as “Putin’s chef,”His catering company has been awarded government contracts in excess of $1 billion. After years of denials he finally admitted that he had been wrong. identified himself as the founder of WagnerThe company was founded in 2014.

Wagner is not under Russian military command. Russian mercenaries are technically illegal, but the group has come be seen as the Kremlin’s private arm. They’ve been there since the beginning. the frontlines in UkraineRussia and Putin. After major losses to the Russian troops, Prigozhin decided to go to prisons and penal colonies to recruit more soldiers in order to strengthen his forces.

According to the Times, he visited a Moscow prison in August and recruited Yevgeny Nuzhin 55, who was currently serving 20 years for a murder conviction. One video that captured Prigozhin’s recruiting process, he told inmates they would be pardoned if they agreed to fight — and warned that if they joined and then deserted, they’d be shot.

Nuzhin enlisted but, after two days of recovering bodies, fled and surrendered to the Ukrainian forces. Nuzhin stated that Putin has done nothing in his time in power, in an interview with The Times. He has done anything positive?”

He said, “I think that this war is Putin’s grave.”

But Nuzhin would soon die.

The Times did not publish the interview with Nuzhin at first, but he had spoken to Ukrainian media and they published his name. During interviews, he stated that he joined Wagner to escape prison and to fight alongside Ukrainian forces. The GuardianThis was reported in November.

After a prisoner exchange, he was eventually returned to Russian forces. He then appeared in a video posted by a Telegram account which has been linked with Wagner. The video showed Nuzhin lying on his back, with a camouflaged man standing over him. several outlets reported. According to the Times: “I woken up in this basement where I was told I would be judged.”

The man strikes Nuzhin’s forehead with a sledgehammer.

Later, Prigozhin expressed support for the assassination. Telegram: “Nuzhin betrayed and betrayed his people, his comrades, and betrayed them consciously.”

Nuzhin’s family members in November stated that they were “horrified” by the video’s publication. Nuzhin’s boy told The Guardian: “Our whole family was in tears watching the video … he was murdered like an animal.”

The Times reported that Dmitri S.Peskov, a spokesperson for Putin, answered journalists’ questions about the video and said: “It’s no business of ours.”