(JustPatriots.com)- A Russian commander has perished due to his unit’s widespread front-line desertions.
Viktor Sevalnev, a 43-year-old ex-convict, hired by the Wagner Group, a mercenary organization, for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, passed away, according to the independent Russian news outlet The Insider.
The publication reported details it had learned from human rights advocate for Russia Vladimir Osechkin, who also operates the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net.
Sevalnev, the commander of the 7th motorized rifle company of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine, was a wounded combatant treated in a hospital.
According to reports, a chat between Sevalnev and his wife that was recorded in November showed that he had been threatened with death because soldiers in his unit had reneged on their duty.
He told his wife Lilia over the phone, “Don’t send people here…they want to kill everyone,” the story said.
“Simply put, it’s me now and someone else tomorrow. To them, we are simply murderous material. The Ministry of Defense carries out executions. They are aware that we are dead guys but couldn’t care less, “he reportedly remarked.
The news source claims that Sevalnev’s regiment suffered significant losses in November, with some soldiers dying and the remainder deserting.
Sevalnev’s widow claimed she learned on December 1 that he had passed away on November 25 in the Donbas from shrapnel wounds and a severe blow to the head.
Osechkin told the news organization that the Kremlin’s account of events does not convince him. He said that in light of Sevalnev’s subordinates’ desertions, Sevalnev may have been “executed.”
Osechkin mentioned the recent passing of Yevgeny Nuzhin, a different ex-convict hired in July by the Wagner Group, established by Putin’s friend Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Grey Zone, a Telegram channel connected to Wagner, posted a video of his murder last month. In the video, Nuzhin, 55, was shown being struck with a sledgehammer by an unnamed male.
In November, Ilya, Nuzhin’s son, stated to Osechkin’s Gulagu.net that his family was “horrified” to hear of his passing.
The 55-year-old added, “Our entire family was in tears watching the footage… he was butchered like an animal.”
