Putin’s Private Army Goes Full ISIS With Sledgehammer Execution Video

The ISIS-style video shows a man with his head tied to a block of cement. Yevgeny Nuzhin explains that he is a former prisoner recruited into the Wagner Group who decided after being captured in Ukraine in September that he would “fight against the Russians.” Then, in October, he was abducted in Kyiv.

“I got hit over the head and lost consciousness and came around in this cellar,” Nuzhin says. “They told me I was to be tried.” And those are his last words: Behind him, a man in camouflage clothing smashes a sledgehammer into Nuzhin’s neck and head, causing Nuzhin to collapse to the floor. The executioner then slams another blow onto his head.

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The unverified video, titled “Hammer of Retribution,” was posted Saturday to the Grey Zone Telegram channel—an account linked with the mercenary Wagner Group. The group, founded by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been used as a private army acting on behalf of the Kremlin during its faltering invasion of Ukraine.

Asked to comment on the horrific execution clip, Prigozhin on Sunday praised its “excellent directorial work.” His comments, quoted by the press service for his Concord company, also included: “This show demonstrates that he didn’t find happiness in Ukraine, instead meeting unkind but fair people. I think this movie is titled ‘Dog’s death to a dog.” Prigozhin added: “I hope that no animal was harmed during filming.”

After being captured by Ukrainian forces in September, Nuzhin gave an interview with Ukrainian media in which he described being imprisoned in Russia in 1999 for murder after killing a man and injuring another in a “skirmish,” Meduza reports. He said he was sentenced to 24 years for the crime, and that he was serving his sentence in a penal colony in the Russian city of Ryazan in recent years.