Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Getty
The ISIS-style video shows a man with his head tied to a block of cement. Yevgeny Nuzhin explains that he is a former prisoner recruited into the Wagner Group who decided after being captured in Ukraine in September that he would “fight against the Russians.” Then, in October, he was abducted in Kyiv.
“I got hit over the head and lost consciousness and came around in this cellar,” Nuzhin says. “They told me I was to be tried.” And those are his last words: Behind him, a man in camouflage clothing smashes a sledgehammer into Nuzhin’s neck and head, causing Nuzhin to collapse to the floor. The executioner then slams another blow onto his head.
The unverified video, titled “Hammer of Retribution,” was posted Saturday to the Grey Zone Telegram channel—an account linked with the mercenary Wagner Group. The group, founded by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been used as a private army acting on behalf of the Kremlin during its faltering invasion of Ukraine.