CNN
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Two Russian men who claim to be former commanders of the Wagner group have told a human rights activist who killed children and civilians who lasted their time in Ukraine.
The statements were made in video interviews with Gulagu.net, a human rights organization aimed at corruption and torture in Russia.
In video interviews published online, former Russian convicts of Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev, who were forgiven by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net, described their actions, the invasion of Russia.
CNN cannot independently verify its claims or identities in the videos, but has obeyed Russian criminal documents that show that they were released in presidential forgiveness in September and August of 2022.
Uldarov, who seems to drink on his legs, details how he shot and killed a five or six -year -old girl.
“(It was) a management decision. I was allowed to let anyone go alive, because my command was to kill anything on my way,” he said.
According to Gulagu.net, the testimonies were given to the Russian founder and dissident Vladimir Osechkin during the period of a week. He said Ullarv and Savichev were in Russia when they spoke.
“I want Russia and other nations to know the truth. I don’t want war and bloodshed. You see that I am holding a cigarette in this hand. I followed the orders with this hand and killed the children,” said Uldarov, describing his motivation for the interview.
The Wagner Group is a Russian private mercenary organization that fights in Ukraine, headed by the Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.
He has recruited tens of thousands of fighters from Russian prisons, offering freedom and effective after a six -month tour. Western intelligence officials and prison defense groups esteem that were recruited between 40,000 and 50,000 men.
Uldarov said in the Eastern Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bakhmut, who have seen some of the most fierce fighting, Wagner mercenaries “were given the order to annihilate everyone.”
“There is a superior above all the commanders: it is Prigozhin, who told us not to let anyone get out of there and we annihilate everyone,” he added. CNN has previously reported on Wagner former fighters who make similar statements.
Since then, Uldarov has seemed to retract his account in a video call with the Russian news agency linked to Prigozhin, Ria Fan.
At one point in the interview, Savichev described how “they obtained the order to execute any man who had 15 years or more.”
Hey, he also talked about receiving orders to “sweep” a house. “It doesn’t matter if there is a civilian there or not. The house must be swept. I did it ** k that was inside,” he said.
“Whether it is a hut or a house, the point was to make sure that there was only one person living inside,” he said. “You can condemn me for this. I will not oppose myself. It’s your reason. But I also wanted to live.”
Savichev said Wagner’s fighters who did not follow the orders were killed.
The head of the Wagner group, Prigozhin, confirmed on his telegram channel that he had seen parts of the video and threatened with compensation against the two Wagner fighters. “As for what he filmed (Osechkin), I looked at the pieces of the video I managed to see,” he said. “I can say the following: if at least one of these accusations is confirmed against me, I am ready to be responsible hero according to any law.”
But Prigozhin said that “if none is confirmed, I will send a list of 30-40 people who spit me as Osechkin (there is a complete list of them, including the slag that fled from Russia) that the trial office of the attorney general,” so to speak. ”
“They will not be” civilians “for us, and as special children, not children, whom we never play and do not touch. This is a flagrant lie. These people (spreading lies) are our enemies, and we will treat them in a special way.”
Previously, Prigozhin said in Telegram: “With regard to the execution of children, of course, no one shoots civilians or children, absolutely no one needs this. We come there to save them from the regime they have been.”
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s office, said on a Tweet on Monday that the group must be responsible.
“Russian terrorists confessed to numerous murders of Ukrainian children in Bakhmut and Soledar. Confession is not enough. There must be a punishment. Hard and fair. And it will definitely be. How many more crimes as the bone committee?” Hey said.
In February, CNN spoke with two former Wagner fighters who described how Wagner’s recruited convicts are pushed at the front line in a human wave, reminiscent of the positions of World War I. The deserters, or those who reject the orders are killed and there was no evacuation of the injured, they said.
In January, the US Treasury Department designated Wagner Group as an important transnational criminal organization and imposed a series of new sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.
The United States Department of State Department announced a series of sanctions aimed at “aiming at a Wagner key infrastructure variety, including an aviation company used by Wagner, a Wagner propaganda organization, and Wagner companies.