A Russian propagandist turned mercenary and was one of Russia’s most identifiable TV spin doctors has been shot in the head and is in a “grave condition” in hospital in what is a suspected “hit” by Kyiv.
Igor Mangushev who is a pro-Putin mercenary waved a “skull of a dead Ukrainian” in front of a crowd and called for Ukrainian civilians to be executed.
The Telegraph has reported that Mangushev was taken to hospital in Stakhanov in the eastern Donetsk region after he was shot in the head in the early hours on Saturday.
Dr’s have claimed that he was shot at close range in the head with a pistol, and Boris Rozhkin who shared graphic pictures on social media said Mangushev’s condition is “grave.”
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Russia expert Mark Galeotti said that Mangushev who have links with Putin’s ally Yevgeny Prigozhin who owns the mercenary Wagner Group, warned this is significant and this could be a “proxy attack.”
Galeotti warned, “I think we can safely describe this as a hit.
“This could be a warning, or taking a pawn off the board, or a sign that Mr Prigozhin’s more thuggish rivals feel he is weakened enough that they can move.”
In August 2022 footage emerged of Mangushev waving the skull of a Ukrainian soldier killed in Mariupol on stage, which provoked revulsion in Ukraine.
The ultranationalist told a crowd of people, “Why can’t there be any reconciliation?
“Ukraine must be de-Ukrainized.
“The Russian lands of Novorossiya must be returned back.
“We are not at war with people of blood and flesh. We are at war with an idea — Ukraine as an anti-Russian state.”
Astra media quoted Mangushev as saying last August holding the skull in his right hand, “We’re alive and this guy is already dead.
“Let him burn in hell.
“He wasn’t lucky. We’ll make a goblet out of his skull.”
In his Telegram message he warned Ukrainians, saying, “We will burn your houses, kill your families, take away your children and raise them Russians.”
Wagner Group and the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mercenary outfit has been designated as a transnational criminal organisation.
The US Treasury have accused Prigozhin and his PMC of brutal war crimes of attacking hospitals, raping women and children and the execution of innocent civilians in Ukraine and also in the Central African Republic.
The Wagner Group were also behind the Bucha massacre last year as they played a “leading role in the atrocities” along with Russia troops.
Prigozhin has also been accused of committing war crimes and human rights abuses in Syria in 2015.
Prigozhin men tied civilians’ hands behind their back and executed them after subjecting them to brutal torture.
Last year Der Spiegel reported that through intercepted radio traffic the atrocities Wagner and Russian soldiers committed in Bucha, Ukraine “were neither random acts nor the product of individual soldiers who got out of hand.”
As a result an executive order was given and the US Treasury placed further sanctions on the group, including Russia-based Joint Stock Company Terra Tech.
Sanctions were also placed on the China-based Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute Co. LTD, who are all believed to be supporting Prigozhin’s military operations.
The US Treasury said in a statement, “Wagner personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions, and physical abuse in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali.”
