Code – Abroad – Wagner’s former commander admits: Prigozhin is the devil himself

Wagner’s fighters were often sent into battle with little information, and the company treated reluctant recruits brutally – Andrei Medvedev said. CNNto do The man gave an interview from the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where he applied for asylum after crossing the country’s Arctic border from Russia.

Those who did not want to fight were rounded up and shot in front of the newcomers. Two prisoners who refused to fight were brought and shot in front of everyone and buried in a trench.

– he demands.

CNN could not independently verify the man’s account, and Wagner’s team did not respond to the channel’s inquiries.

The 26-year-old, who said he had previously served in the Russian army, joined Wagner as a volunteer. Within ten days of signing his contract in July 2021, he traveled to Ukraine and worked near Bagmud, a leading city in the Donetsk region. The mercenary group played a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev said Directly to the founders of the group, reported to Dmitry Utkin and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. He refers to Prigogine as “the devil”.

If he was a warrior, he would have taken up arms and fought with soldiers

Medvedev said.

Prigozhin previously confirmed that Medvedev served in his private army and said he “should have been prosecuted for mistreatment of prisoners”.

Medvedev told CNN He didn’t want to comment on what he didWhen he fought in the Ukraine.

Units were upgraded as they marched

Wagner lacked a tactical strategy, and the troops came up with their battle plans on the fly, Medvedev said.

It’s not a real trick. We only got information about the position of the enemy. There are no concrete orders as to how we should behave. We have planned step by step how to proceed. Our problem is who will fire, what shifts will there be… what will the operation be like

he said.

On the sixth day of his deployment to Ukraine, he said, he knew he didn’t want to return for another deployment after seeing troops being used as cannon fodder.

Initially, he had ten men under his command, however, this number continued to increase Criminals can also join For that.

More people died and more people arrived. In the end, I had a lot of people under my command. I couldn’t count how many there were. Fluctuations continued. Dead people, more criminals, more corpses, more criminals

he said.

They don’t pay the families of the fallen

According to interest groups For fighting criminals They said that if they died in battle, their families would receive five million rubles (25 million forints).

However, in reality, “nobody wants to pay that much,” Medvedev said. Many Russians who died in the war were “reported as missing,” he said.

Medvedev became emotional at times in the interview, telling CNN he saw brave people on both sides of the war.

You know, I have seen brave people on both sides, on the Ukrainian side and between us… I want you to know this.

he said.

She said she wants to share her story now to help bring Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin to justice. “Propaganda in Russia will sooner or later not work, the people will revolt, all our leaders will be arrested. And a new leader will emerge.

Wagner is often described as Putin’s unofficial army. Since its establishment in 2014, it has been involved in many conflicts around the world and has been accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.

Asked if he feared he would end up like another Wagnerian monk, Yevgeny Nuzhin, who was hammered to death on camera, Medvedev said Nuzhin’s death had inspired him to quit.

I will say that the incident made me brave and determined

he said.

(Cover Image: (Olga MALTSEVA/AFP)