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Russian commander Viktor Sevalnev’s soldiers deserted en masse.
Now he himself has been punished by execution, according to the human rights organization Gulagu.net.
At the same time, Russia sends out warning text messages to avoid more defections.
Russia’s 7th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which is stationed on the front line in Luhansk, has suffered a mass desertion.
A number of soldiers are said to have left their posts and sought refuge in Ukraine.
Commander Viktor Sevalnev stated in a telephone conversation with his wife that he was blamed for the desertion and that he would soon be shot. Then he asked her to pass on one last message:
– Don’t send more people here, that’s enough. They want to kill everyone, he reportedly said The Insider.
Beaten to death with a sledgehammer
Five days later she found out he was dead. According to the Russian death warrant, Sevalnev must have died from shrapnel, but the human rights organization Gulagu.net doubts the Kremlin’s version.
Vladimir Osechkin, who works for the organization, believes that Sevalnev was executed because his soldiers deserted.
Osechkin drew comparisons with defected mercenary Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, who was filmed being beaten to death with a sledgehammer after fleeing the battlefield.
Connected to the infamous Wagner group
Both Sevalnev and Nuzhin were recruited by the notorious Wagner group, whose owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, warned potential deserters.
– We label those who arrive in Ukraine and do not want to fight as deserters. Then we execute them, he said in a video in September.
However, the Wagner boss has denied Sevalnev’s death.
– This person has never been in Wagner’s ranks, he has never arrived at any training camps and has never worked for the Wagner group, he writes on Telegram, according to The Insider.
To counter further cases of desertion, the Russian forces in the Luhansk region have now sent text messages to subscribers with a warning that they may be punished for leaving military posts.