1/ The release of murderers who have served with the Wagner Group, including the notorious "Black Realtor" Alexander Tyutin, is causing controversy in Russia due to complaints by relatives of their victims. Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has responded uncompromisingly. ⬇️
2/ On the Telegram channel of the Concord Group, Prigozhin's catering firm, he replies to a Russian media query about the recent release of quadruple murderer Alexander Tyutkin, who has completed a six-month contract fighting with Wagner in Ukraine.
3/ Tyutin was a St. Petersburg real estate agent who was sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment in 2021. He was convicted of organising two contract killings, including the execution of an entire family of four.
4/ He was caught in 2018 after arranging the murder of his niece so that he would not have to share an inheritance with her. The 'killer' he hired for 600,000 rubles ($8,666) turned out to be a policeman, tipped off by the first person he tried to hire for the job.
5/ He was found to have also organised the 2005 murder of his business partner Dmitry Zeynalov, his wife and their 10-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter. The family were shot before being finished off with an axe. Tyutin reportedly urinated on their grave after the funeral.
6/ Tyutin was sent to penal colony no. 9 in Karelia but was released on 16 June 2022 after joining Wagner. Despite his age – he is 66 – he survived the fighting and returned to his native St. Petersburg in December. He has now reunited with his wife in Turkey.
7/ Prigozhin writes that the contributions of men like Tyutkin to the war effort far outweigh the efforts of non-criminals, to whom he refers to contemptuously as "dandelion boys":
8/ "Let me explain to you the philosophy behind prisoners' involvement in the war in Ukraine. A certain prisoner killed, as a realtor, a family of four. You don't know this family and haven't seen it. But you resent the fact.
9/ "This prisoner went to war and died. Or by some miracle survived. He is a murderer, and in the war he is worth three or four or even more dandelion boys, whose milk on their lips is still wet. Among those dandelion boys is your son, your father and your husband.
10/ You are more willing to let a killer realtor go to war than your loved ones, who, unlike the killer realtor, you will probably receive in zinc coffins.
11/ "Only don't look into the coffins, because instead of the pale, powdered face you are used to seeing at funerals, blissfully awaiting departure for heaven, you will see pieces of flesh torn apart by shrapnel from enemy guns.
12/ "Perhaps not even one person, but several, because in that hell and in that meat grinder in which they died, it was impossible for them to survive. And if he had ironically survived, he was no longer Vasya the killer realtor, but Petya the lucky warrior."
13/ Prigozhin also provides some (uncorroborated) evidence of Tyutin's role in the fighting, in the form of an apparent report from his commander, who recommends him for an award of the medal "For Courage".
14/ The report states that on 6 November 2022, Tyutin "carried out the task of storming a fortified settlement of the Ukrainian armed forces". He discovered a camouflaged Ukrainian position and destroyed it with a grenade launcher, killing 7 Ukrainian soldiers.
15/ "Thanks to his decisive and skilful actions, the assault team was able to occupy the enemy stronghold with minimal losses and fulfil the task". Tyutin was injured in the battle but refused to be evacuated.
16/ Prigozhin is not a fan of the media questioning his fighters' bona fides – see the linked thread below. He asks if anyone from the editorial board of the enquiring publication will volunteer to join Wagner, "or are all of you pussies?" /end
1/ Mobilised Russians from Siberia are upset that their commanders lied to them about where they would be serving, say they are living in appalling conditions with little equipment or supplies, and appeal for relief after suffering heavy losses on the front line. ⬇️
2/ In the video, provided to the 'Baikal People' Telegram channel by a relative, the Novosibirsk men say they were sent "in close proximity to the front line without any training, equipment or support."
3/ They were trained for territorial defence duties but "in fact we were thrown into an assault unit" on the front line. After only two days, they say they have suffered 19 wounded and two dead.
Additionally, the men's logistical support is non-existent.
1/ Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly wants to place one of his mercenary convicts in the Russian lower house, the State Duma, to strengthen his political position. The search is on for someone so terrifying that "all the other deputies will be afraid of him". ⬇️
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports:
"The other day Wagner veterans were asked who wants to be a deputy. Before Soledar, Prigozhin looked at deputies and politicians like shit (in the private military company they said that he was the second person in Russia after Putin).
3/ "Now it is too obvious that butting heads with everyone in a row is not only impossible, but also dangerous: many have a grudge against Prigozhin personally, and there are not many allies.
1/ The Wagner Group is facing difficulties finding new recruits after suffering huge casualties in eastern Ukraine, according to reports. It's said to be trying to find recruits in Central Asian prisons and possibly even merging with Ruslan Kadyrov's Chechen forces. ⬇️
2/ According to the brother of Paul Whelan, the ex-US Marine currently imprisoned in Russia, Wagner has attempted to recruit more inmates without much success. The prisoners are well aware of the use of their fellow convicts as cannon fodder and now mostly refuse to go.
3/ "Everyone else has a clear picture of what happens to prisoners who go to fight the Kremlin's war in Ukraine," David Whelan writes in his most recent update. He says that while in the last round of recruitment Wagner managed to recruit 115 men, this time only 8 joined.
1/ Russian soldiers being punished for indiscipline are being locked up in a modified bus shelter in the occupied part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, according to the "Caution, News" Telegram channel. ⬇️
2/ According to the channel, a bus stop with "Spartak-Moscow" and "A.C.A.B." written on it is being used as a makeshift guardroom near a Russian military base. The conditions are reported to be only marginally better than in one of the Russian army's notorious basement prisons.
3/ "Caught, News" reports that soldiers were "locked up at the bus stop for drinking, usually for 2 or 3 days." An officer says that this happened "without any paperwork, naturally."
1/ The Wagner Group's head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has demanded that criticism of his fighters should be banned in Russia. In a letter published on Telegram, he complains that media and bloggers are unfairly portraying his recruited convicts as "villains and criminals". ⬇️
2/ Translation:
"A large number of volunteers are involved in a special military operation, including former convicts.
3/ "They bravely and worthily perform their duty to the Motherland, effectively carry out combat tasks assigned to them, ensure the state's security and suffer combat losses.
1/ Yevgeny Prigozhin is known as "Putin's chef" for his many contracts to supply the Russian government with catering and food. But last year the Russian Ministry of Defence sued him 560 times for supplying the Russian army with poor-quality, rotten and infected food. ⬇️
2/ The independent Russian Telegram channel 'We can explain' reports that in 2022 the Russian MOD's procurement arm, Voentorg, filed 560 lawsuits against food suppliers associated with Prigozhin, claiming more than 107 million rubles ($1,555,780) in damages.
3/ 'We can explain' comments: "This is a record number of lawsuits in a single year of litigation between the department and the supplier, although it is not a record amount. Voentorg claimed the most money from Prigozhin's companies in 2020 – 197.1 million rubles ($2,866,283)."