Russian deserter lies dead in a field after he was shot

The body of a Russian deserter was left to rot in the middle of a snowy field after the soldier was shot dead by one of Vladimir Putin’s men.

Dmitry Perov, 31, was ‘liquidated’ by a Russian marksman today after he fled the front line in Ukraine in what is feared to be a warning to other mutineers not to desert ahead of another mass mobilisation of Russian troops.

Perov, who fought in Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine before deciding to flee, left his military unit armed with an automatic weapon and ammunition and travelled 350 miles to Russia, Russian authorities claim.

He was shot dead by a Russian soldier and his decaying body was seen lying face down in the middle of a snowy field in Novouglyanka, a village in southwestern Russia.

Dmitry Perov, 31, was ‘liquidated’ by a Russian marksman today after he fled the front line in Ukraine in what is feared to be a warning to other mutineers not to desert ahead of another mass mobilisation of Russian troops

Russian officials said they launched a manhunt for Perov after he fled his military unit. A video showed Perov climbing onto a bus outside a station in Russia. 

He was found five days later and ‘liquidated’ today, Russian law enforcement officials said.

An official source said: ‘There is no threat to residents. Pre-investigation activities are carried out.’

Perov, who has a 25-year-old wife called Ekaterina Perova, was serving military unit No. 11045 of the 344th reconnaissance regiment. 

His execution is feared to be a warning to current and future recruits not to desert amid reports that Putin is set to massively boost military mobilisation.

His execution is feared to be a warning to current and future recruits not to desert amid reports that Putin is set to massively boost military mobilisation. Pictured: Putin speaks while attending a meeting with workers and veterans in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday

It also comes after former convicts who were drafted to fight in the Ukraine war claimed Putin has a ‘squadron of liquidators’ to publicly execute deserters.

Last week, inmates who were transferred from their prison cells to the war’s front lines with the Wagner Group of private mercenaries say they have witnessed disobedient comrades being killed by commanders.

Former convict Yevgeny Novikov said told Polygon Media and the independent Mozhem Obyasnit outlet: ‘Those who disobey are eliminated — and it’s done publicly.’

Novikov said the ‘squadrons of liquidators’ deal with troops considered to be problematic.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is pictured pardoning former inmates who served six months fighting in Ukraine

Pictured: Ukrainian T-72 tank manoeuvers through the trees in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday

He recalled: ‘Shelling began, one of the prisoners laid down and didn’t cover his own [men]. 

‘The shelling stopped, he went back, and the higher-up shouted to him: “Why didn’t you go forward?” And they killed him. The higher-up is killed if his team deserts.’

There are complaints among Russian soldiers of equipment shortages, poor living conditions and scant training for new recruits. 

Since Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 Russians on September 21, independent media, human rights activists and those called up have painted a bleak picture of a haphazard and chaotic effort to round up as many men as possible and push them quickly to the front lines, regardless of skill, training and equipment.

Conscription protests have been harshly put down, and tens of thousands of men fled Russia to neighbouring countries to avoid being pressed into service.

Meanwhile, it emerged in October last year that Russia is reportedly setting up a second line of troops behind the front line in Ukraine to shoot down any Russian soldiers fleeing combat, according to an intercepted phone call.

In the audio, described by Ukraine as an intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his wife, the man describes how his commander has ordered him to ‘wipe out’ any Russian troops who flee from the front line.

The Russian soldier said that new recruits, many of whom are prisoners, are on the front line and his unit has been positioned on a second line to shoot anyone who tries to run away.  

The Russian soldier tells his wife: ‘They moved us back to the second line, there’s shooting somewhere ahead of us, but we’re back for now in the trenches.

‘They brought the inmates here from prison but they led them somewhere on the front. And we’re sitting here as a retreat-blocking detachment.’

He added: ‘If someone runs back, we snuff them out.’