‘Bloodsoaked’ hammer stunt by Putin crony
THE head of a Russian mercenary firm has claimed he is sending a blood-smeared sledgehammer to the European Parliament in a sick online stunt.
A video emerged showing Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s lawyer presenting the tool in a violin case to a nationalist blogger tasked with giving it to an EU representative.
it was a response to the European Parliament declaring Russia a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’.
Commenting on the video of the sledgehammer – which carried the Wagner Group’s logo – Prigozhin wrote on Russian social media: ‘i don’t know what law the European Parliament is guided by, but according to our legislation, from today we declare the European Parliament dissolved.’
it is not known whether the blood in the video is fake, but the sledgehammer has become a symbol of the Wagner Group’s barbaric methods. The stunt related to the extrajudicial killing of a convicted murderer turned mercenary by colleagues who accused him of ‘treachery’.
Yevgeny nuzhin was beaten to death with one on camera. At the time billionaire Prigozhin sought to justify the killing of the ‘traitor’, saying it was a ‘dog’s death’.
it comes amid speculation that Vladimir Putin could soon order a new mobilisation drive in his beleaguered invasion of Ukraine.
Some reports suggest he plans to draft up to two million more fighters in an attempt to turn the war into a national crusade.
But the Kremlin spokesman dmitry Peskov said yesterday such reports were ‘not true’.
■ nato is to send more power generators, clothing and other non-lethal aid to Ukraine. Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said pledges of aid would be secured at a meeting of members next week.