A man identified as Yevgeny Nuzhin said in footage released over the weekend that he surrendered to Ukrainian troops in September but was kidnapped in Kyiv on Friday, according to The Moscow Times. The video then allegedly shows Nuzhin being beaten to death with a sledgehammer by a member of the Wagner group. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin expressed his support for Nuzhin’s killing, saying in a statement on Sunday that he was a traitor. Several photos released by the FBI show Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, who funds the St. Petersburg-based troll factory Internet Research Agency LLC. (F.B.I.) Prigozhin, who is on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list, also praised the execution video as “an excellent piece of directorial work that you can watch in an instant” and said it should be titled “The Death of a Dog in a dog”. PUTIN KEPT FEAR OF NEW ‘RED SCAREC’ IN ‘STALIN-ESQUE’ SPEECH ON ‘FIFTH COLUMN’ TRAITORS IN RUSSIA “Nuzhin betrayed his people, he betrayed his comrades,” Prigozhin said. “He was not captured and did not surrender, but planned his escape,” he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the country’s transport industry via a video link in Sochi, Russia, May 24, 2022. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERS) Nuzin was allegedly a convicted murderer who joined Wagner after Prigozhin was recruited from prison, offering amnesty in exchange for fighting against Ukraine. But those who left were threatened with death. RUSSIAN OIL EXECUTIVE WHO RESPONDED OKRANIA INVASION DEAD AFTER CONTENTS FELL FROM HOSPITAL WINDOW Nuzin spoke about the squalid conditions inside Wagner and the ranks of the Russian army, according to footage released by Ukrainian forces after Nuzin left. Nuzhin’s family was devastated and cried when they saw video of his death, according to an interview his sons gave to Gulagu.net, a prisoners’ rights organization. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy takes part in a meeting with military officials as he visits the war-torn Mykolaiv region on June 18, 2022. (Ukraine Presidential Press Office via AP) “He was a prisoner of the Ukrainians, and then a terrible thing happened to him … all his relatives blame the Ukrainians for this,” Nuzhin’s son Ilya said, adding that the Ukrainians should have known they were sending him to his death. Declining to comment on the video of Nuzin’s murder, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday: “It’s not our business.” Rebekah Koffler, former DIA intelligence officer for Russian Doctrine & Strategy and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” told Fox News Digital that while Nuzhin’s killing is “terrifying,” it’s not surprising. OPINION: PUTIN WILL RELY ON HIS STAFF CHEF AND TEAM CHIEF WAGNER TO MANAGE NEXT PHASE OF WAR “The Wagner group is known for its torture tactics,” Koffler said. “What Putin’s regime is trying to do is to instill fear in Russian soldiers – who are already demoralized and exhausted from nine months of grueling fighting – to discourage them from leaving the battlefield.” Vladimir Putin delivers a speech flanked by men in military uniforms. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Koffler argued that such tactics come from the top. “This all comes from Putin,” he said. “In March, after the invasion, Putin gave a scathing speech during a mass pro-war demonstration in which he called those who do not support his ‘special operation’ in Ukraine ‘scum and traitors’ who deserve to be surrendered. He called for “self-purification of Russia” from the pro-Western “fifth column”. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This inhumane treatment by Wagner agents of defectors comes from this Stalinist Red Scare mentality,” Koffler added. Jon Brown is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to j[email protected]
