This video causes horror: Russians are said to have beheaded a Ukrainian prisoner. An ex-mercenary now wants to have identified former comrades.
According to civil rights activists, a Russian ex-mercenary identified former comrades as the perpetrators in the video, which caused international horror and is supposed to show the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
The video material was sent to Andrei Medvedev, who fled to Norway months ago and is currently being held in Sweden, said the founder of the Russian civil rights organization Gulagu.net, Vladimir Ossechkin, in an interview on Wednesday.
“Distinctive call sign and way of speaking”
“He listened and watched it carefully several times, and he clearly recognizes there his former colleagues, fighters of the Wagner mercenary group,” Ossechkin said in the post, which was published on the YouTube channel of expatriate Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Medvedev, who himself used to fight for the notorious Russian mercenary group, identified the men based on “characteristic call signs and their way of speaking,” the civil rights activist continued. You can see more about Medvedev here.
Medvedev imprisoned in Sweden
A video of around one and a half minutes appeared on the Internet on Wednesday night. It shows one man in uniform being beheaded by another. The perpetrator wears a white marking on his clothing that is typical for Russian soldiers. Here you can read more about it. However, the authenticity of the video and the time it was recorded have not yet been independently verified.
The Czech President compares Russia to IS
The video caused horror internationally. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a minute’s silence at an event in Washington. “I would now ask you to observe a minute’s silence for the Ukrainian soldier whose death we all witnessed yesterday,” said Zelensky, who joined the video at a roundtable on Ukraine during the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Czech President Petr Pavel expressed his dismay. “If this video turns out to be authentic, then Russian soldiers have lined up with the Islamic State, which we should all condemn around the world,” said the off-duty general in Prague. Pavel noted that there are numerous well-documented cases of brutal actions by Russian forces in Ukraine.
