Nuzin, 55, was serving a 24-year sentence for a murder he committed in 1999 when he was released in July and drafted into the notorious military group Wagner, run by powerful Russian businessman, Radimir’s close ally Yevgeny Prigozhin led. lead. After being captured by Ukrainian troops in September, Nuzin gave a series of interviews in the country, saying he joined Wagner’s group to escape from prison and quickly hatched plans to surrender to Ukraine.
In the interview, he also criticized the Russian leadership and expressed a desire to join the Ukrainian armed forces and fight Moscow.
Yevgeny’s son Ilya Nuzin confirmed to The Guardian on Monday that the man in the video was his father, but declined to comment further, citing “security concerns”. In an interview with Russian human rights group Gulagu.net later Sunday, Ilya Nuzhin said his family was “shocked” by the news of his father’s death via Telegram. “My whole family shed tears when they saw the video…he was murdered like an animal,” Nuzhin said.
It is unclear who was behind the video or how Nuzhin got back to Russia. According to unconfirmed reports, Nuzin was recently involved in a Russian-Ukrainian prisoner swap, which has drawn the attention of human rights groups.
“There are a lot of questions and I hope we can get to the bottom of it,” Vladimir Oshkin, director of Gulagu.net, a human rights organization that focuses on alleged abuses in Russia’s prison system, told the Guardian. “Ukraine has a responsibility to Nuzin and given the dangers he faces in Russia, he should not be replaced.”
Oshekin said all indications point to Wagner’s involvement in the murder and said he planned to file a request with Russian authorities to open a case. “Wagner could not have carried out this medieval execution without the consent of the Russian security services,” Oshekin said.
Prigozin, who is under Western sanctions for his role in Wagner, expressed his approval of the murder on Sunday, calling Nuzin a “traitor”. “Nujen betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed them on purpose,” he said.
In September, Prigozhin, dubbed “Putin’s chef,” admitted to founding Wagner, having previously repeatedly denied an association with him. Wagner has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights abuses, including torturing and killing prisoners in Syria, where she fought alongside Russian forces and the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The Kremlin on Monday sought to distance itself from the video, which was widely discussed on Russian social media, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying “it’s none of our business.” The Guardian has previously reported that Prigozin is personally recruiting soldiers from Russia’s sprawling prison system to fill critical shortages on the battlefield. Wagner has so far recruited more than 20,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine, according to Russian human rights groups.
There were also widespread reports that Wagner was recruiting foreign criminals, including citizens from five Central Asian countries, in prisons across Russia. On Monday, Zambia’s foreign minister said a 23-year-old Zambian national was serving time in a prison on the outskirts of Moscow while he was fighting in Ukraine, where he was killed.
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