Reuters reporting shows that some of the fighters had previously been in jail, underlining how the Kremlin’s decision to allow Prigozhin to recruit thousands of mercenaries from prisons has come back to haunt it
The Wagner Group mercenaries who seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday in a failed mutiny included at least three convicted criminals, a Reuters review of facial recognition software, court records and social media showed.
The mercenary force’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his men to march on Moscow before they turned back in the failed bid to oust his long-time rival, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. They have been offered a choice between leaving for Belarus to join Prigozhin who is in exile there, joining the regular military or returning to civilian life.
One of the Wagner fighters to depart the city that night was 25-year-old Dmitry Chekov, a Rostov local who had been convicted four times for theft and drug offences. Legal papers seen by Reuters showed Dmitry Chekov had been sentenced to a total of six years and five months for three separate charges by Rostov courts since 2015. He received his most recent sentence of three years and four months for drug possession in January, 2022.
The man was identified by facial recognition software as 33-year-old Sergei Shirshov, a native of the Volga River city of Saratov. On VKontakte, Shirshov’s profile picture is of a Wagner Group shoulder patch.
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