A WAGNER fighter allegedly went on a murderous rampage through Russia and killed six people after returning home from the Ukrainian frontline.
Cops said the massacre took place in the northwest region of Karelia where two homes were set alight and its occupants brutally stabbed.
As a result 37-year-old Igor Sofonov and his pal Maxim Bochkarev, 38, were charged with the alleged murders.
Footage showed the hardened thugs being frogmarched through a Russian prison.
Both men were remanded in custody for at least two months as investigations continue.
It has been reported Sofonov had just returned from Ukraine after being pardoned for his service under Putin's twisted decree.
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According to the legislation – murderers and sex offenders could all be offered their freedom if they last six months at the frontline.
Multiple local reports claimed Sofonov was a former Wagner Group thug who returned to Karelia in spring after he was freed from the war.
Both him and Bochkarev reportedly served previous jail time for serious convictions including murder, rape, robbery and drugs.
Their arrest comes as cops discovered the bodies of five men and a woman with stab wounds and serious burns after two separate homes were set alight.
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Local authorities confirmed the blaze happened on August 1, destroying the neighbouring properties in the village of Derevyannoy.
Chilling pictures showed the inferno in action as well as the aftermath of the devastated homes.
Inside one home, residents Konstantin Lonin, 42, his brother Dmitry, 47, and Vladimir Sergeenko, 76, were all reportedly stabbed to death.
A woman named Svetlana, 38, was also killed.
At the other premises, cops found the bodies of Vladimir Tereshchenko, 70, and his son Artyom, 39.
Local reports said Artyom's children were inside the property and had escaped through the windows when the intruders broke in.
The youngsters then alerted their grandfather and Artyom, who approached the scene but were fatefully killed.
The horrific incident was said to be sparked by a long-standing conflict on domestic grounds, Karelia News reported.
Both alleged suspects were in a state of "extreme intoxication" when they were detained, sources claimed.
Russian investigators further suggested the two houses were set on fire in a bid to hide the gruesome massacre.
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It comes as steaming rotten corpses of slain Wagner Group soldiers led to the discovery of a mass grave in Siberia.
In February, a fighter in Putin's vicious private army was also arrested after allegedly attacking a police officer following a brawl at a bar.
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