PMC Wagner posts video with mercenary Dmitry Yakuschenko saying he was ‘forgiven’. Video of his ‘execution’ with sledgehammer was shared online earlier today

Private military company (PMC) Wagner has posted a video featuring mercenary Dmitry Yakuschenko saying that he had been “forgiven”, as per the official Telegram of PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s press service.

Where and when the video was recorded is unclear. In the video, Yakuschenko thanks PMC Wagner for “the opportunity to fix my mistakes” and says he is ashamed for having said “a lot of bullshit” while in captivity.

The video was posted after outlet Ostorozhno Media had sent a request to Yevgeny Prigozhin asking him to confirm or deny the authenticity of a video released earlier in the day with Yakuschenko’s alleged execution.

Earlier in the day, the aforementioned video was spread online. At the beginning, the video shows clips of the executed man telling his story. The video’s description indicates that those parts were filmed in Ukrainian captivity.

Afterwards, Mediazona’s journalist David Frenkel posted an analysis of the video on Mediazona’s Telegram channel, in which he explained the inconsistencies he had noticed.

“Yakuschenko clearly finishes a sentence and waits for an unknown man to strike [with a sledgehammer]. At the moment of the hit, Yakuschenko’s body doesn’t react to it at all, doesn’t move at all, even in small ways. Then a sound of the hit is heard, while the body is completely still — and only tens of a second later does it start falling backwards. At the moment of the strike, something resembling blood appears in the blurry part of the shot, however, there’s no blood in the unblurry part. The body that fell backwards shudders a few times, while the unknown man hits him with a sledgehammer two more times. It’s almost like the hits and seizures are not connected,” the journalist wrote.

Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova told Russian media outlet RBC that she would send an inquiry to the Investigative Committee to verify the authenticity of the video of the alleged execution of ex-mercenary of PMC Wagner Dmitry Yakuschenko after he had been returned to Russia from Ukrainian captivity.

Media outlet Agentstvo previously reported that on 1 December a man resembling Yakuschenko was seen in the video shared by Russia’s Defence Ministry and RT that showed Russian servicemen returned from Ukraine as part of a 50-50 POW swap.