Commander known for using prisoners in “meat grinder” assaults to supervise Russian youth policy, IStories reports

Major Igor Yurgin (in civilian clothing) appears before inmates at a correctional facility in Yakutia. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense / Federal Penitentiary Service of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Major Igor Yurgin, a participant in the war against Ukraine and recipient of the Hero of Russia award, has been appointed as head of a department in Russia’s Ministry of Education, according to a report by the independent investigative outlet Important Stories.

Yurgin will serve as the head of the Department of State Policy in the Sphere of Upbringing, Supplementary Education, and Children's Recreation. The announcement confirming his appointment initially appeared on the website of the “Time of Heroes” project.

Igor Yurgin, 30, a native of Russia’s Yakutia region and a graduate of the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School, participated in the initial invasion of Ukraine’s Kharkiv Region on Feb. 24, 2022. In early 2023, he was appointed commander of the “Black Mamba” assault unit, part of the 252nd Motorized Rifle Regiment based in Russia's southwestern Voronezh Region. The unit reportedly included convicts recruited from Russian prisons.

Major Yurgin in dress uniform.

Fighters in the “Black Mamba” unit were said to include individuals convicted of serious crimes, such as murder, robbery and assault. Pro-war Telegram channels reported that the unit took part in high-intensity assaults along the Svatove-Kreminna front, where it suffered significant losses. Relatives of fallen soldiers have claimed that the bodies of the fallen were not returned to their families.

Following his return from the battlefield, Yurgin was named acting minister for youth and social communications in his home region of Yakutia. He has now been appointed to a federal post overseeing state policy on child upbringing nationwide.

Yurgin will head the department that is responsible for shaping national policy on childrearing, patriotic education, and what the ministry refers to as the “spiritual and moral development” of children and youth. The department also oversees the implementation of classroom initiatives such as “patriotism lessons” and the weekly “Conversations About Important Things” program in Russian schools.

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