Confessions of the Wagnerites may be an element of the domestic struggle within Russia, and thereby it needs to be carefully checked – Mikhail Savva

The information provided by the Wagner PMC mercenaries Uldarov and Savichev, who fought in Ukraine for six months, represents valuable insight since containing new aspects. The fact that orders to kill civilian Ukrainians were given by Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin, in particular. However, the factual material provided in the interview must be checked thoroughly. 

It was emphasized by Mikhail Savva, Professor, Member of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties, during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Now, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched an investigation into the facts provided in these interviews, and it’s an important thing that needs to be done. Considering this source of information is not 100% reliable. These are people who may be susceptible to influence. There is a fierce political struggle in Russia, the Russian elite is not doing well, and the Kremlin’s opposing sides are fighting each other. Therefore, this may be an element of this internal Russian struggle. We need a check, and it has already begun,” he explained.

In addition, he noted that the Center for Civil Liberties documents war crimes, and some scenarios are very similar to the information that the Wagnerites voiced.

“But I want to emphasize the following: I believe that what the Wagnerites said could take place to be. There is a lot of other evidence of war crimes that were actually committed, and which were very similar to what Uldarov and Savichev told about. “The Center for Civil Liberties documents war crimes, and I personally have interviewed victims and witnesses of these crimes many times, and some of the scenarios fully correspond to what we heard.”

As a reminder, On April 17, the Russian project Gulagu.net published a video with the two former commanders of Wagner PMC units’ confessions of war crimes in Ukraine. They gave the details on the shooting of more than 20 Ukrainian children and teenagers, the blowing up of a pit with 60 wounded prisoners, and the ones under the so-called “500” code name (those who decided to leave the war and refused to follow orders to kill Ukrainians), and the mopping up the residential buildings with the killing of everyone, including children.

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