Ex-Wagner Prisoner Troop Reveals Lies Fed to Him About Putin's Invasion

Many—but not all—Russian soldiers believe in the so-called special military operation, according to prisoner interviews conducted by the Kyiv Post.

Seven captured Russian fighters who were part of the paramilitary Wagner Group were recently interviewed by reporters in a detention facility located in the eastern city of Dnipro. All but one fighter interviewed expressed justification for their participation, denied war crimes, and confirmed the high number of casualties reported in the city of Bakhmut.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes related to the alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. Putin and Wagner Group founder Prigozhin, known by the moniker "Putin's chef," have experienced an increasingly strained relationship due to the mix of soldiers and fighting styles on the battlefield.

Each of the detained mercenaries, as they are called, is part of the private military company headed by the oligarch Prigozhin. They told the publication that they were promised a "return to civilian society with a clean slate after serving."

Last September, Prigozhin said in a leaked video that Russian prisoners were being recruited from state penitentiary systems. Offers included commuted sentences for male prisoners, in addition to cash incentives in exchange for six months of service in Ukraine. The Kremlin said Putin had pardoned recruited convicts.

A payment of about $1,300 per month (USD) was reportedly offered. Prigozhin now says prisoners are no longer being recruited.

All interviewed prisoners reportedly identified themselves and spoke on camera without guards present. One of the seven declined to speak in full detail.

They were all captured in and around Bakhmut—a city full of Wagner fighters for months—in January. All but one of the interviewees told the Kyiv Post that their justification for partaking in the military operation was to liberate Ukraine from "fascist rule" and "genocidal anti-Russian policies."

A 27-year-old resident of Irkutsk, reportedly serving 18 months of a four-year narcotic sentence, instead stated that he was "misled" by Russian media for making him believe that Russian speakers were being targeted and killed by the Ukrainian government.

He "asked Ukraine's women's forgiveness" for coming to their country "to kill their husbands and sons," adding that he witnessed one Wagner fighter get executed in front of others due to drunkenness.

Others interviewed said they had not witnessed that scene, adding that they were initially warned of offenses including looting, abusing civilians, intoxication, and disobeying orders that were punishable by death.

Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that the arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children's Rights for the Russian Federation, may be just the beginning of the ICC's efforts.

Lvova-Belova, for example, is a mid-level government official not under European Union or U.S. sanctions and could theoretically travel anywhere at the war's conclusion.

"Such an approach could make a very broad circle of officials worry about their prospects of becoming wanted by the ICC and therefore severely constrained in their travel options," Troitskiy said. "Those officials may also be turned over to the Hague tribunal by some future Russian government that could abrogate or change the constitution, providing for an exemption for the Russian citizens indicted by major international tribunals."

The Wagner interviewees' ages ranged between early 20s and late 40s, with most either not graduating high school or coming from broken homes that led to multiple run-ins with the law. Their imprisonment was correlated with alcohol or narcotics abuse.