Two Wagner fighters ‘are executed for failing to back mutiny against Putin’s regime’

The bodies of two Wagner Group mercenaries have been found in Ukraine, reportedly summarily executed for not supporting Prigozhin’s June mutiny against the military.

The corpses, found in military equipment and without identification documents, were found shot to death near the Voronezh-Luhansk highway.

A military jeep carrying a Kalashnikov-style weapon was found close to the crime scene in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.

A suspected murderer named Yaroslav Shekhovtsov, 35, has been detained, according to reports.

The identities of the two dead combatants have not been established.

The BAZA media outlet reported that Shekhovtsov confessed to shooting the men because they did not support the June 24 armed uprising.

Shekhovtsov claimed that the two men found dead had disobeyed orders.

If true, it highlights the lawlessness in a military force supposedly loyal to the Kremlin.

The suspect has been apprehended and a murder case has now been opened, reports said.

Wagner was previously accused of using a sledgehammer to kill “traitors” who showed support for Ukraine.

Last month, mercenaries from the Wagner Group marched on Moscow on orders from the head of the private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The armed uprising was ostensibly directed against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov.

The advance at the end of June made rapid progress, seizing Rostov and moving into the Russian regions.

Six Russian army helicopters and an aircraft were reportedly shot down in the clashes.

But the mutiny failed in its objectives, as Prigozhin negotiated peace through Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko before reaching Moscow.

It stalled amid the threat of a massacre on the outskirts of Moscow, where authorities had deployed thousands of special forces.

A pact was brokered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

Under it, Wagner troops – including Prigozhin – would go to Belarus.

All charges against the leader of the Wagner Group were eventually dropped to facilitate the move.

Finally, three weeks later, significant numbers of Wagner mercenaries arrive in Belarus.

Billionaire Prigozhin – who was accused of treason until he was pulled out by Putin – appears free to move between Belarus and Russia unmolested.

He used to be seen as close to the dictator after hosting lavish Kremlin banquets for Putin and running internet troll factories in support of the Russian leader.