Ex-Akhmat fighter Mongush accuses Russian officials of land misappropriation
Former Ahmat fighter Ochur-Suge Mongush, infamous after a video surfaced depicting the brutal torture, castration, and execution of a Ukrainian POW, has voiced his grievances against Tuva officials. Mongush alleges that these officials are selling off land that the government had promised free of charge to those participating in the Ukraine conflict, reports the Ukrainian project InformNapalm.
Mongush criticized the proposition given to returning fighters to work in the social sector as a form of "hero humiliation." He mentioned his friend, a mercenary from the Wagner Group, being offered a job "changing diapers for elderly women."
"I remember back in 2021, there was a promise to bring gas to Tuva — another deception. As always, we are given many promises before the election campaign, only to be deceived," Mongush says in the video.
After returning from the front lines, Mongush made an unsuccessful bid for the Tuva parliament as a "Fair Russia" candidate.
In August 2022, The Insider and Bellingcat identified Mongush of the Akhmat Battalion as the individual in the video involved in the torture and execution of a Ukrainian POW at a sanatorium near Pryvillia in the Luhansk region. Ochur-Suge Mongush denied any involvement in the atrocity, but analysis by The Insider solidified his culpability.
Several Russian propagandists have claimed that the video was staged.
On December 9, 2022, Ochur-Suge Mongush and his immediate family were placed on the U.S. sanctions list.