Returned Wagner Group fighter given 15 years in prison for murdering friend

A court in the city of Izhevsk, in the central Russian republic of Udmurtia, sentenced a mercenary who fought in Ukraine for the Wagner Group to 15 years in prison for murder and attempted murder on Friday, independent Russian investigative outlet Verstka reported.

The court found that an intoxicated Anton Yegorov had accused his girlfriend of cheating on him with the friend at whose house they were staying, striking her in the face several times and attempting to drown her in the bathtub. When his friend attempted to intervene, Yegorov stabbed both of them before stealing their cell phones and fleeing the scene, according to investigators.

Yegorov’s friend was pronounced dead at the scene, while his girlfriend survived the attack, despite being stabbed five times in the stomach.

Yegorov pleaded guilty on both charges, but asked the court to consider his recent military service in Ukraine, where he received a medal for courage and a letter of gratitude from the Russian-installed governor of the occupied Luhansk region, which the court agreed to do.

In 2020 Yegorov was sentenced to eight years in prison for murder after he fatally assaulted an acquaintance with a pitcher and a knife after the two fought about a girl.

Just two years later, however, he was granted early release from prison after signing a contract with the Wagner Group to fight in Ukraine. Yegorov returned home before his six-month contract was completed after sustaining a leg injury.

A recent investigation found that in 2022 and 2023 the Wagner Group recruited almost 50,000 prisoners from Russia’s prisons to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, offering them early release in exchange for signing a six-month contract to serve on the frontline.