Rostov residents pose for selfies with Wagner mercenaries
Rostov residents pose for selfies with Wagner mercenaries
Teen poses for selfie with Wagner troops
Wagner Group soldiers stand guard during Wagner’s control of Rostov
Members of Wagner group sit on the sidewalk as they patrol the center of Rostov
Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves Rostov to cheers from city residents
Civilian sits atop armored vehicle as Wagner Group occupies Rostov
Head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves Rostov to cheers
President Putin delivers fiery remarks on Wagner “treason”
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin making a speech after his troops take military headquarters in Rostov
Sergei Surovikin asks Wagner troops not to turn against President Putin
Wagner chief Prigozhin after Headquarters of the Southern Military District surrounded by fighters of the paramilitary Wagner group
People look at a tank near a circus building in the city of Rostov
Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov
Trucks brought in to block Wagner troops en route to Moscow
Wagner shared video of purported airstrike attack on Wagner troops
Members of Wagner group detain a man in the city of Rostov
Members of the Wagner Group prepare to depart from the Southern Military District’s headquarters
Residents cheer Wagner troops
A woman shows her mobile phone as she speaks with a member of the Wagner group
A woman poses for a photo in front of the Wagner Group military vehicle
Members of Wagner group stand on the balcony of the circus building in the city of Rostov
A local resident speaks with a member of Wagner group in Rostov
Russian police officers patrol in an area outside PMC Wagner Centre in Saint Petersburg
In 2010 Prigozhin leads Putin on school lunch factory inspection
In 2016 Prigozhin attends meeting with foreign investors in St Petersburg
I saw the gun in the first act of this Chekov play but I missed the klaxon, seltzer bottle and cream pie.
I’m sorry, but the Wagner Battalion is made up of convicted murderers and rapists. They’ve thrown journalists out windows, tortured countless civilians to death, and committed unspeakable war crimes around the world.
Survivors and witnesses have described, “torture, killing and disembowelment of a number of women, including pregnant ones.” These aren’t heroes; they’re stone-cold killers who should be tried for crimes against humanity, not cheered and selfied by Rostov residents or anyone else.
Now consider that they are the rock stars in the matter as compared to Putin. Russians seem to have some seriously skewed priorities, but they are still priorities.
Putin and the rest of the leadership have been praising Russian soldiers and urging public patriotic defense of the Motherland against Nazis in the West since the start of the Ukraine war. Schoolkids are taken on trips to WW2 war museums. The same kids make gifts for soldiers in school.
I’m not trying to absolve anyone of honoring murderers and rapists here, just thinking this could be the result of indoctrination of the public over the last year to praise any Russian soldiers, and the Wagner ones just happened to be the ones in that area. Russian media isn’t going to be telling them about the Wagner war crimes.