CNN
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Two Russians who claim to be former commanders of the Wagner Group told a human rights activist that they killed children and civilians while in Ukraine.
The statements were made in a video interview with Gulagu.net, a human rights organization fighting corruption and torture in Russia.
In video interviews published online, former Russian convicts Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev, who Gulagu.net reported were pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, described their actions in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
CNN could not independently verify their statements or identities in the video, but obtained Russian criminal documents confirming they were released under presidential pardons in September and August 2022.
Uldarov, who appears to have been drunk, details how he shot and killed a five- or six-year-old girl.
“(It was) a management decision. I was not allowed to let anyone out alive because my command was to kill everything in my path,” he said.
According to Gulagu.net, testimony was given to the founder and Russian dissident Vladimir Osechkin over the course of a week. It says Uldarov and Savichev were in Russia when they spoke.
“I want Russia and other countries to know the truth. I don't want war and bloodshed. You see, I hold a cigarette in this hand. I followed orders with this hand and killed children,” Uldarov said, describing his motivation for the interview.
The Wagner Group is a Russian private mercenary organization fighting in Ukraine, led by a Russian oligarch. Evgeny Prigozhin.
He has tens of thousands of fighters recruited from Russian prisons, offering freedom and money after a six month tour. Western intelligence officials and prison advocacy groups estimate that between 40,000 and 50,000 people were recruited.
Uldarov said in eastern Ukrainian cities Soledar and Bakhmut – who saw some of fierce fighting – Wagner’s mercenaries “were given the command to destroy everyone.”
“All commanders have a boss – this is Prigozhin, who told us not to leave anyone and destroy everyone,” he added. CNN has previously reported about former Wagner fighters making similar statements.
Uldarov has since found himself recant your story in a video call with the Prigozhin-linked Russian news agency RIA-FAN.
At one point in the interview, Savichev described how they “received orders to execute all men over 15 years of age.”
He also spoke of receiving orders to “sweep” the house. “It doesn't matter whether there's a civilian there or not. The house needs to be swept. I didn't care who was inside,” he said.
“Whether it was a hut or a house, the main thing was to make sure that no one was alive inside,” he said. “You can judge me for this. I won’t mind. That’s your right. But I also wanted to live.”
Savichev reported that Wagner fighters who disobeyed orders were killed.
The leader of the Wagner group, Prigozhin, confirmed on his Telegram channel that he had watched excerpts from the video, and threatened reprisals against two former Wagner fighters. “As for what (Osechkin) was filming, I watched the parts of the video that I was able to see,” he said. “I can say the following: if at least one of these accusations against me is confirmed, I am ready to be held accountable under any laws.”
But Prigozhin said that “if nothing is confirmed, I will send a list of 30-40 people who spit at me like Osechkin (there is a whole list of them, including scum who escaped from Russia), whom the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine is obliged to hand over to me for a “fair trial,” so to speak.”
“They will not be “civilians” for us, and especially not children, whom we have never touched and will not touch. This is a blatant lie. These people (spreading lies) are our enemies, and we will deal with them in a special way.”
Earlier, Prigozhin said on Telegram: “As for the execution of children, of course, no one ever shoots at civilians and children, absolutely no one needs this. We came there to save them from the regime they were under.”
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president's office, said on Twitter on Monday that the group should be held accountable.
“Russian terrorists confessed to numerous murders of Ukrainian children in Bakhmut and Soledar. Confession is not enough. There must be punishment. Harsh and fair. And it will definitely be. How many more similar crimes have been committed?” – he said.
In February CNN spoke with two former Wagner fighters who described how Wagner's recruited prisoners were pushed into the front lines in a human wave, reminiscent of World War I charges. According to them, deserters or those who refuse to follow orders are killed, and the wounded are not evacuated.
In January, the US Treasury Department recognized Wagner Group major transnational criminal organizationand introduced a series of new sanctions against the transnational network that supports it.
The US State Department simultaneously announced a series of sanctions designed to “target a number of key Wagner infrastructure assets, including an aviation firm used by Wagner, a Wagner propaganda organization and Wagner front companies,” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
