The Wagner PMC mercenaries testified about war crimes
18 April, 2023 Russian mercenaries from the so-called Wagner PMC on the territory of Ukraine. October 2022. Ukraine.
Photo credits: Russian media Russian prisoners recruited by the Wagner private military company discussed the murders of children, the shooting of civilians in the occupied territories, and the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. The video featuring the testimonies of mercenaries was released by the humanitarian project Gulagu.net.
The video presents the testimony of Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev, ex-commanders of the Wagner PMC units, recruited from Russian prisons through the program known as "Project K". Azamat Uldarov, an ex-convict from Corrective labor penitentiary-13 of the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Saratov region (pardoned by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated August 23, 22), and Alexey Savichev, an ex-convict from Corrective labor penitentiary-1 of the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Voronezh region (pardoned by Vladimir Putin on September 02, 2022) were recruited to the Wagner PMC under the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin. According to the authors of the video, Azamat and Alexey are in Russia, they are not under any influence of the SSU, CIA, or other special services.
During the week, they were providing detailed and consistent testimony about the war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine.
Alexey Savichev
Alexey Savichev reported that on February 7-9, 2023, his command gave an order to immediately shoot all civilians of Bakhmut over the age of 15. According to him, more than 20 people were killed in front of his eyes, ten of whom were children aged 15 to 17. The Russian justifies the murders of Ukrainian children by allegedly discovering tattoos on their bodies.
Savichev also spoke about the so-called "zachistka" (clearing operation - Ed) of residential buildings, during which all discovered civilians were killed. He says that the murders were carried out purposefully, in accordance with the orders of the commanders, and he was allegedly threatened with execution for non-compliance.
Azamat Uldarov
Azamat Uldarov also confirms the stories about the murders of Ukrainian civilians in Soledar and Bakhmut. He admits that he personally killed children. According to him, during the occupation of Soledar and Bakhmut, Wagner PMC mercenaries received an order to annihilate the entire civilian population.
"We went out and killed everyone. There were women, men, elderly, and children. Do you understand what is on these hands?
She is screaming, she is a small child, five years old, and I shoot the controlled shot. You see, I wasn't allowed to let anyone out alive because my command was to kill anything in our way," Uldarov said. When asked about who gave this criminal order, the mercenary answered that it was given by his commander under the call sign "Korshun" (Kite - Ed.), emphasizing that the owner of this organization, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was his superior.
Uldarov discussed the episode when he deliberately blew up the two-story basement of a nine-story building filled with hundreds of civilians. "When I entered the basement, there were children there.
I was given the command to not let anyone out, not a single one. I followed the order, I did not let anyone out. I put everybody down, my group put everybody down there. ...There were about forty children there, and in total, there were 300-400 people.
I had no choice, I was given a command to annihilate everyone," the Russian said. According to him, it was Prigozhin's direct decision to kill all civilians, and the order was given by him personally via video link. "He gave the order not to take anyone prisoner," Uldarov emphasized.
Uldarov also spoke about the systematic murders of Ukrainian soldiers captured by mercenaries. According to him, his commander, under the call sign "Korshun" (Kite - Ed.), made decisions about which prisoners of war to keep alive and which to kill immediately.
"He left some for the staff, some girls, some platoon commanders, some division commanders. Out of a hundred, he would leave three, and we had to kill the others. We killed them, destroyed them immediately.
We did not demand explanations, we were given a command" When asked how POWs were killed, the mercenary said that it was done with a cold weapon: "To be honest, we would mostly cut with a knife, just cut the throat right away, it was filmed.
When he ordered to [kill] with a sledgehammer, we would kill with a sledgehammer, this is his [Prygozhin's] method.
Prigozhin is actually a horrific person," Uldarov said.