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Neo-Nazi Russian mercenary who waved skull of slain Ukrainian soldier at concert shot in head in 'execution-style' hit

An expert said the hit on Mangushev may have been a proxy attack on the head of the Wagner Group

LUHANSK, UKRAINE: A Russian propagandist and a contract killer were shot in the head at close range in eastern Ukraine over the weekend. Igor Mangushev, a 36-year-old mercenary, was wounded at a checkpoint in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region and taken to a hospital in Stakhanov in Russia's eastern Donetsk region in the early hours of February 4. The attack occurred months after the gruesome video in which he brandished the skull of a Ukrainian soldier on stage in Mariupol.

Mangushev was shot in an "execution-style" shooting, according to Russian sources who spoke to the New Voice of Ukraine. A friend and colleague, Boris Rozhkin, reportedly posted pictures on Telegram purportedly showing a bandaged and bleeding Mangushev lying in a hospital bed, describing his condition as "grave," according to DailyMail. Alongside the posting, Boriz wrote that Mangushev had been attacked in Stakhanov and that doctors had determined that he had been shot with a handgun, according to The Telegraph. Analysts have speculated that the attack could be a warning to the increasingly powerful Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries.

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A warning for Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries

The owner of the private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Mangushev have close ties, according to Russia analyst Mark Galeotti, who also suggested that this could be a "proxy attack" Galeotti said, "I think we can safely describe this as a hit. This could be a warning, or taking a pawn off the board, or a sign that Mr Prigozhin's more thuggish rivals feel he is weakened enough that they can move," he wrote in a series of tweets analyzing the situation.

Mangushev, a member of this private mercenary organization, has previously asserted that he and his comrades developed the 'Z' emblem to show support for the Russian invasion, according to The Daily Beast.

Igor Mangushev's gruesome video

The footage of Mangushev waving the skull of a Ukrainian soldier killed in Mariupol last August provoked revulsion. The Putin mercenary said, "Why can't there be any reconciliation? Ukraine must be de-Ukrainized." "The Russian lands of Novorossiya must be returned back. "We are not at war with people of blood and flesh. We are at war with an idea — Ukraine as an anti-Russian state." Astra media quoted him as saying, "I am holding the skull." '“We’re alive, and this guy’s already dead,” he told the crowd. “Let him burn in hell. He wasn’t lucky. We’ll make a goblet out of his skull.”

Mangushev, one of the well-known former TV Spin doctors, openly called for killing civilians on his Telegram channel. "We will burn your houses, kill your families, take away your children, and raise them Russians," he posted. Mangushev, who is allegedly fighting for Ukraine, is also the leader of the nationalist group Light Russia and the brainchild behind the ENOT private army, which is rumored to have ties to the FSB. The performance involving a human skull was illegal under at least one provision of Article 244 of the Russian Federation's Criminal Code, which prohibits "Desecration of the Bodies of the Dead." Under international law, it is also a war crime. It was unclear where and when the video was shot, making it impossible to independently confirm these details, as per DailyMail.