Igor Zaytsev's blog

The video of the Wagner Group’s deserter execution was made public and made it into the major western mainstream news outlets such as Reuters (Video shows sledgehammer execution of Russian mercenary).

He was mobilized from the penal colony after being charged with murder and serving his term, and later deserted to Ukraine and even gave interview on one of the main Ukrainian talk shows.

It seems he was abducted in Ukraine and his execution was filmed and distributed, probably as an attempt to frighten and prevent any other possible deserters from doing the same. This video and the fact of the execution were reportedly publicly endorsed by the Wagner Group’s owner.

The execution of deserters who volunteered to sign a six-month-long contract while serving their terms for major crimes in Russian penal colonies is one of the basic conditions of those criminals’ service with Wagner. Yet, the way it was executed is reminiscent of the practices we can expect from the ISIS, drug cartels or Azov battalion.

Not only Wagner Group has implicated itself with such inhumane and godless style of execution, but it has also implicated the Russian Army and the Russian Federation. Much like Blackwater private military company stained not only itself but the United States image with its war crimes in Iraq, the same was now done by the Wagner Group to the Russian image.

I believe such atrocities must be dealt by harsh and immediate response from the Russian government. Only government has the authority to execute criminals and deserters — not any random private company. Since the Wagner Group isn’t a government organization, but private military company, any such actions outside of battlefield must only be taken by officials of the Russian government, security services or its MoD.

Russian government cannot wash its hands in such matters. By allowing its convicted criminals-citizens to volunteer into military service with private military company, it doesn’t relinquish its responsibilities of those citizens. In fact, its responsibility for them only grows.

Some people were cautious about this scheme of conscripting convicts into Wagner Group. Now we can see they had a good reason to do so. The law and order should be enforced even more rigidly in the time of a crisis. Any unlawful activities would increase the already heighten the state of chaos and endanger the basics of statehood.

It also endangers the moral principles of the entire Russian society, since many people will be tempted to accept this as a moral and righteous action just because it was done to a criminal, deserter and traitor. This judgment can then expand to other groups of people, as it happened in Ukraine, were anyone somehow implicated with Russia, or just reported as such, is seen as a traitor and could be tortured and executed by anyone and without any proof or trial.