The Russian Igor Matyukhin, who was recruited by Wagner PMC in prison and went to fight in Ukraine, escaped from the camp in the occupied Luhansk Region, and now wants to return to prison, because the mercenaries threaten to kill those who do not follow their orders.
The New York Times writes about it.
In Russia, 26-year-old Matyukhin was convicted of embezzlement. In November, he was recruited by the mercenaries of the Wagner PMC. However, conditions in the camp of murderers and sadists turned out to be worse than in the prison, so Matyukhin escaped from there and is now hiding in Russia.
He claims that the sudden attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the camp helped him to escape.
"I'm hiding, but I'm still in Russia, trying to return to the penal colony. I registered with the PMC in November, when Yevgeny Prigozhin flew to the colony, where I was serving my third term, to recruit prisoners. Within a few days, we were already in training camp near Luhansk," Matyukhin said.
The publication writes that in November, from 120 to 200 prisoners, recruited by the Wagner PMC, were taken out of each penal colony of the region. Yevgeny Prigozhin personally flew to the colonies once.
According to the ex-prisoner, recruited prisoners were intimidated and threatened with "total executions".
"One person from my unit was taken away after disobeying an order, and he never came back," Matyukhin says.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury added Wagner PMC to the list of transnational criminal organizations. In addition, sanctions have been imposed on individuals and legal entities associated with it.
About 80% of the casualties among the fighters of the Wagner PMC are recruited inmates of Russian prisons and penal colonies. They attack in the first wave, and already after them, more experienced mercenaries go into battle.
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