Former Wagner Group fighters are rampaging in Russia after leaving the war zone in Ukraine, according to local media reports.
Ex-mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary outfit that led a months-long offensive in the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine under the direction of its late leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been accused of committing a range of crimes since returning to Russia.
The Wagner Group, which the Kremlin says has been absorbed by the Russian Defense Ministry following Prigozhin's failed mutiny attempt on June 24, recruited extensively from prisons beginning in 2022. Prigozhin was killed in a private jet crash in August.
Male prisoners were offered commuted sentences and cash incentives in return for six months of military service in Ukraine. In December 2022, Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist who has interviewed former members of the Wagner Group, told Newsweek that as many as 30,000 prisoners had been recruited from jail and deployed to Ukraine.
Some former Wagner mercenaries have made headlines since returning to Russia, accused of committing crimes including murder and kidnapping.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment via email.
On Tuesday, a former Wagner fighter was detained on suspicion of murdering two women in Russia's Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Baza Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia's security services, reported.
The mercenary, 32, is accused of setting fire to a house where a 68-year-old woman and her 35-year-old daughter lived.
"A few hours later, police officers detained a 32-year-old former soldier of the Wagner PMC. During the searches, they found a canister [of fuel]," Baza reported.
The Telegram channel reported on Tuesday that a 31-year-old ex-Wagner fighter beat a four-year-old girl to death in the Lipetsk region.
On the same day, the Mash Telegram channel reported that a 35-year-old former Wagner mercenary who was detained for "petty hooliganism" escaped from a temporary detention center in Russia's Krasnodar Territory.
Earlier this year, a former Wagner fighter who was recruited from prison to fight in Ukraine was charged with murder after returning from the front lines, reported local news outlet Idel.Realii.
According to Russia's Investigative Committee, at the end of May, 23-year-old Nikita Lyubimov, while intoxicated, beat a 56-year-old man to death.
In Novosibirsk, a Wagner fighter was arrested in May on charges of raping two minor girls. Prigozhin confirmed at the time that the man was a fighter from his company.
In March, a former convict who was recruited to fight in Ukraine with the Wagner Group was detained for the murder of an 85-year-old woman.
Analysis by Verstka, an independent Russian news outlet that was founded shortly after the conflict in Ukraine began, found that Wagner fighters had previously been convicted of murder and robbery.
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