BRUTAL! Violence Warning – Sledgehammer execution – OMG!

Beyond uncomfortable sharing this, yet also why I feel important. Cannot stress enough caution but behind flag waving and cheerleading this is, as it was for decade, Ukraine. The values, democracy, and more. (Please spare face-saving defence already rolled out by Kiev.) @avalaina pic.twitter.com/fkQrmBDELl

— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) November 13, 2022

• Pro-Russian Wagner Group pages have published this footage purporting to show the execution by sledgehammer of Evgeny Nuzhin, who fled from the front and voluntarily surrendered to the Ukrainian military on September 4, 2022.
• The big news of the day in Russia is the widely circulated video of the execution of an ex-“Wagner man” with a sledgehammer to the head. Russian political culture accepts brutality, but it has long been categorically opposed to PUBLIC brutality.
• Wagner’s mythology and iconography is based on glorification of ultraviolence. Consider this Wagner merch. Execution with sledgehammer is the most recognisable symbol of the Wagner group.