The army of evil: How murderers, rapists and domestic abusers make up the Wagner forces feared to be on their way to invade Poland
- Wagner group are amassing just kilometres across the Polish border in Belarus
- Ranks include notorious criminals including rapists, murderers and fraudsters
Sitting in his small kitchen in the village of Krynki in Poland, 63-year-old Sławomir Siemieniko is scared.
With thousands of Russian mercenaries from the notoriously bloodthirsty Wagner group amassing just kilometres away across the border in Belarus, Siemieniko is terrified that they could soon be deployed to Poland.
Talking to Poland’s Fakt newspaper he said: ‘There’s a movie called The Dirty Dozen. It’s about criminals taken out of prison, dressed in uniforms and sent on a mission. They are told: if you win, you will be free.
‘It’s the same with the Wagnerians. Sooner or later, [Belarus’s dictator and Putin ally] Lukashenka will use them against us, so that they will break down the defences that Poland has put up on the border.
‘After all, the Wagner group is mostly criminals with nothing to lose. They’re murderers, they’ll get their money and do what they’re told.’
One of the mercenaries is thought to be convicted killer Vladislav Kanyus (pictured)
Now photos posted online show the 26-year-old thug (circled) dressed in military uniform and posing with a gun alongside other Wagner recruits
Jailed for 17 years in 2021 for beating his ex girlfriend (right) senseless before throttling her to death with an ironing cord, Kanyus was released less than a year later to join the mercenary group
The battered and lifeless body of 23-year-old student Vera Pekhteleva was found in January 2020
Siemieniko is not alone with his fears. In the village of Jurowlany less than four miles away, 52-year-old farmer Krzysztof Szmarowski said: ‘The Wagnerians are mercenaries, we don’t know what they can do to us.
‘They are unpredictable and we are a bit concerned about this.’
Founded in 2014 to help Russia annex Crimea, the mercenary group is now ‘in exile’ in Belarus following an aborted ‘coup’ on Moscow in June.
Neighbouring Poland has now warned that the group poses a ‘real and present danger’ to European security.
At the end of last month, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the mercenaries had moved close to Poland’s Suwalki Gap, a strategic stretch of NATO land between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
One of the mercenaries is thought to be convicted killer Vladislav Kanyus.
Jailed for 17 years in 2021 for beating his ex girlfriend senseless before throttling her to death with an ironing cord, he was released less than a year later to join the mercenary group.
Now photos posted online show the 26-year-old thug dressed in military uniform and posing with a gun alongside other Wagner recruits.
Last month the family of his victim said they feared he would become seen as a ‘hero’ in Russia
Vladislav Kanyus
Police found Kanyus sitting in the bathroom drinking vodka after he viciously murdered Miss Pekhteleva
Last month the family of his victim said they feared he would become seen as a ‘hero’ in Russia.
They added they also feared for their own lives.
The battered and lifeless body of 23-year-old student Vera Pekhteleva was found in January 2020.
According to reports, she had gone to collect some of her belongings from Kanyus’s apartment in Kemerovo, southwest Siberia, after ending the relationship.
But once inside, Kanyus locked the door, punched her in the face breaking her nose and then subjected her to 3.5 hours of torture.
He eventually tied the cord of an iron around her neck and strangled her to death.
An autopsy revealed 56 injuries on her body including multiple skull and bone fractures, knife wounds and horrific bruising on her stomach, arms and legs.
Police found Kanyus sitting in the bathroom drinking vodka.
According to reports, she had gone to collect some of her belongings from Kanyus’s apartment in Kemerovo, southwest Siberia, after ending the relationship
An autopsy revealed 56 injuries on her body including multiple skull and bone fractures, knife wounds and horrific bruising on her stomach, arms and legs
After seeing the photos of him in uniform appear online, Pekhteleva’s family said they had written to the federal prison service which confirmed Kanyus’s release
After seeing the photos of him in uniform appear online, Pekhteleva’s family said they had written to the federal prison service which confirmed Kanyus’s release.
Vera’s horrified dad told siberia.org: ‘At first we saw activity on his social media account.
‘Then he posted a photo with soldiers, all in camouflage, with machine guns.
‘How can they give the killer of a defenceless girl a weapon! It’s unbelievable.
‘Now he knows that he can serve less than a year for murder and return as a “hero of Russia”.
‘Kanyus was transferred to Rostov-on-Don. From IK-44 in the Kemerovo city of Belovo, he was apparently sent to IK-18 in Novosibirsk, and then to the Rostov colony.
‘I can’t imagine what will happen when he comes back. He will carry out another massacre.’
Vera’s mother Oksana said: ‘This monster, being freed from a criminal offence, having escaped from the front or switched sides, can at any moment kill all of us, the victims, out of revenge.’
Another of those recruited was 28-year-old Ivan Rossomakhin, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder in 2020
He returned to his home town of Novyj Burets, 600 miles east of Moscow, in March this year after fighting in Ukraine
After returning Rossomakhin then hacked 85-year-old pensioner Yulia Buiskich (pictured) to death with an axe
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wagner recruited tens of thousands of prisoners, including murderers and domestic abusers.
Sent to fight some of the war’s bloodiest battles with the promise of a presidential pardon from Putin if they survived for more than six months, another of those recruited was 28-year-old Ivan Rossomakhin.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder in 2020, he returned to his home town of Novyj Burets, 600 miles east of Moscow, in March this year after fighting in Ukraine.
He then hacked 85-year-old pensioner Yulia Buiskich to death with an axe.
A couple of days before the grisly murder, locals had complained about him wandering the streets with an axe and a knife, smashing cars and threatening ‘to kill everyone’.
In response, the small community of a few hundred people had a town hall meeting.
Police chief Vadim Varankin told them that the ‘problematic troublemaker’ would be ‘removed’ from the town on 28 March.
But the next day, Rossomakhin broke into the pensioner’s wooden house and chopped her to pieces with an axe.
Another OAP Wagner killer is Pavel Zakharov (pictured). When Russia attacked Ukraine, the 39-year-old from Karelia was serving 11 years for the murder of pensioner Nina Belova who had been celebrating her 61st birthday
Georgiy Siukayev (pictured) was re-recruited into Wagner last Autumn while in prison for murdering a Russian commander in 2014 in the Donbas region of Ukraine
After being redeployed, Siukayev returned in March to Tskhinvali, capital of the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia (Georgia), completely cleared of his criminal past
Buiskich’s granddaughter told local media: ‘He should have been in prison. But our government releases criminals to freedom.
‘They released a sick creature into society.’
Another OAP Wagner killer is Pavel Zakharov.
When Russia attacked Ukraine, the 39-year-old from Karelia was serving 11 years for the murder of pensioner Nina Belova who had been celebrating her 61st birthday.
Sitting outside her apartment waiting for her party guests to leave, he then smashed the door in and knifed her to death.
An orphan with a string of previous offences including armed robbery, theft and attempted bank robbery, he was released to Wagner in 2022 and is still serving with the group.
Georgiy Siukayev was re-recruited into Wagner last Autumn while in prison for murdering a Russian commander in 2014 in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
After being redeployed, he returned in March to Tskhinvali, capital of the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia (Georgia), completely cleared of his criminal past.
Chilling video posted on Telegram showed Siukayev attacking Soslan Valiyev (pictured) before plunging a knife into his chest
Former mayor of Bolshoy Kamen, a town in the far east of Russia, Rustyam Abushaev (pictured) was arrested in absentia in March for fraud
Posting a video online in mid-April, he is seen standing outside the ruins of a house in Ukraine, wearing military uniform and cradling a gun
Less than a month later, he knifed a 38-year-old local man with Cerebral Palsy to death in the street.
Nicknamed Tsurgi and described as ‘loveable and idiosyncratic’, chilling video posted on Telegram shows Siukayev attacking Soslan Valiyev before plunging a knife into his chest.
Another criminal who is currently serving with Wagner is the former mayor of Bolshoy Kamen, a town in the far east of Russia.
Rustyam Abushaev was arrested in absentia in March for fraud.
Posting a video online in mid-April, he is seen standing outside the ruins of a house in Ukraine, wearing military uniform and cradling a gun.
Previously spreading Z signs around his town and forcing school children to take part in marches supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in the video he said: ‘Dear friends, at the moment I am in the zone of a special military operation.
Convicted kidnapper Dimitry Yermakov was released from a 14 year jail sentence
Rapist Nikita Lyubimov (pictured) was released in November last year
‘This is our Motherland, our people and I want to defend my country and my people. We’ll definitely return with a victory!’
Local activist and journalist Denis Ruzavin said: ‘This is definitely a desperate move.
‘But personally, I wish him to go to jail, and not become a “hero”. He deserves the title of a fascist.’
Other Wagner criminals include convicted kidnapper Dimitry Yermakov who was released from a 14 year jail sentence, rapist Nikita Lyubimov who was released in November last year, had his leg blown off in Ukraine after two months and is now looking to rejoin Wagner, and dad-of-three Sergei Batuyev who was jailed and then released after strangling a friend to death and planning to feed the corpse to pigs.
But one of the most brutal Wagner killers is former businessman and real estate mogul Alexander Tyutin.
He had his leg blown off in Ukraine after two months and is now looking to rejoin Wagner
Dad-of-three Sergei Batuyev (pictured) was jailed and then released after strangling a friend to death and planning to feed the corpse to pigs
One of the most brutal Wagner killers is former businessman and real estate mogul Alexander Tyutin (pictured)
In 2005 he had personally machine-gunned to death another business rival and her family. Pictured: Tyutin’s victims Dmitry Zeynalov and his wife Tatyana alongside their children
Sickening photos show the bloodied remains of the family lying on the floor in their apartment in St. Petersburg
After slaying them with his Kalashnikov AK47 assault rifle, he then chopped them to pieces with an axe
Released to Wagner in 2022, the 66-year-old killer went on to be awarded a medal of bravery for his actions in Ukraine
Tyutin is now free – and is reported to be living in Turkey with his wife
Sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2021 for hiring a hitman to murder a business rival, it later emerged that in 2005 he had personally machine-gunned to death another business rival and her family.
After slaying them with his Kalashnikov AK47 assault rifle, he then chopped them to pieces with an axe.
Sickening photos show the bloodied remains of the family lying on the floor in their apartment in St. Petersburg.
Released to Wagner in 2022, the 66-year-old went on to be awarded a medal of bravery for his actions in Ukraine.
According to Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman ‘went to the meat grinder on the front, killed seven soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there and returned without injuries.’
Prigozhin added he also ‘performed the task of storming a fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.’
Tyutin is now reported to be living in Turkey with his wife.
Last month the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) branded Wagner PMC (as the group is officially known) as a terrorist organisation.
Dmitry Zeynalov and his wife Tatyana – the husband and wife who murdered by Alexander Tyutin
Pictured: The son and daughter of Dmitry Zeynalov and his wife Tatyana who were murdered by Alexander Tyutin
According to Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman ‘went to the meat grinder on the front, killed seven soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there and returned without injuries.’ Pictured: Alexander Tyutin and his wife
The OSCE added that ‘the Russian state is responsible for the actions of the Wagner group abroad’ and condemned Belarus for supporting the group ‘which jeopardises the security of the Baltic countries.’
In response to the growing threat on its border, Poland’s deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik said the Wagner fighters were not in Belarus ‘for a holiday.’
He said: ‘They are there for a purpose. They are unscrupulous criminals, they fight and kill for money.’
As bordering countries Latvia and Lithuania mull over closing their borders to Belarus, America’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: ‘We certainly worry what they may do on behalf of the Russian government as they do not act independently of Moscow.
‘The Wagner Group is a threat to all of us and we want to ensure that the message is clear that any attack [on a NATO country] by the Wagner Group will be seen as an attack by the Russian government.’
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