(HRNW) – A video appearing to show the execution using a sledgehammer of a Russian mercenary who fled the Wagner group while fighting in Ukraine was shared on social media on Monday, although Wagner’s founder declined to say whether the apparent victim had been killed or not.
The Wagner mercenary group, which operates outside the main Russian military command in Ukraine and promotes itself as Russia’s most ruthless and effective fighting force, has adopted the sledgehammer as its symbol after reportedly using it to execute a defector from its ranks last year.
In the footage, captioned “Video from the court for treason”, a man who identifies himself as Dmitry Yakushchenko is shown with his head taped to a block on a brick wall, while a man in camouflage stands behind him holding a sledgehammer.
Facing the camera in a seated position, the restrained man recites his name and gives 1978 as his year of birth and says he has been snatched from the street in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
“I was planning on finding some loophole, just, as they say, to run away,” he says, adding that it was “not his war”.