A Russian man said he killed children and other civilians while serving with the private military company Wagner in Ukraine, appears to have retracted the claim, suggesting he was blackmailed in making it.
Azamat Uldarov, a former prisoner, withdrew his withdrawal application in a video call with Russian news agency RIA-FAN. It is not clear if there are any conditions for the interview.
He and another former prisoner, Alexey Savichev, previously gave lengthy and rambling interviews to Russian human rights group Gulagu.net, saying they were among tens of thousands of Wagner fighters recruited from prisons. Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
Talk to Gulagu founder Vladimir OschkinUldarov said he shot and killed a young girl, calling it “a management decision.”
“I’m not allowed to let anyone out alive, because my orders are to kill anything that gets in my way,” he said, estimating that the girl was about five or six years old.
In an interview with RIA-FAN – which involved Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin – Uldarov said that he was drunk during the interview and alleged that Osechkin had blackmailed him about his prison time.
RIA-FAN asked: “Did they make you say what you said in the video?” Uldarov replied: “Not only is it true, it is also [expletive] Exactly. I was forced to speak out because I had no other choice.”
Then Uldarov said: “I said whatever I was told to say.
“Prigozhin is a great guy,” he added, giving him a thumbs up. “He saved our lives.”
But Gulagu’s Osechkin, who is based in France, told CNN he upheld his interview with the two men, citing Uldarov’s retraction as evidence that dissenting voices had how quickly extinguished in Russia.
Osechkin also stated that both interviewees, Uldarov and Savichev, were threatened with death if they did not withdraw their testimony to him. Savichev told Gulagu that his unit was ordered to kill any man aged 15 or over.
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