Russia faces soaring murder rates as Wagner convicts go on rampage after military service

A former convict recruited into the ranks of the Wagner militia has been arrested for suspected murder after completing his military service in Ukraine. The death of Soslan Valiyev, 38, last week on Monday has raised fears that former murderers returning from fighting in Ukraine with Wagner could be about to go on a bloody spree in Russia's towns and cities. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner boss, has recruited tens of thousands of convicts into the ranks of his mercenary group.

Many of the prisoners were serving long sentences for murder and domestic violence.

The convicts were promised that their sentences would be quashed if they signed up for six months of service with the brutal mercenaries.

The move helped the Wagner chief to fill out the ranks of his paramilitary after it had suffered huge losses in fierce battles in Ukraine.

While many have died in the bloody battle for Bakhmut, others have started to return home after surviving the frontline slaughter.

The total number of those currently freed is over 5,000, according to Prigozhin.

One of those is Georgiy Siukayev, who was imprisoned for murder in 2014, but was released from jail last autumn, after signing up to fight with Wagner.

Siukayev now stands accused of stabbing Valiyev to death in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali after his return from the front.

A video published on Telegram channels showed a man chasing and kicking Mr Valiyev moments before he reportedly stabbed him.

The victim, who was affectionally known as Tsugri, was well-known and much loved by locals.

His death was publicly confirmed by the South Ossetian news website "RES" and has caused shock in the capital.

In a short statement, they wrote: "Valiyev, better known in Tskhinvali by the nickname Tsugri, was the city's blessed, who was known to all the locals.

"On April 17, it became known about his death. The man was stabbed."

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Prigozhin tried to defend the attack on Tsugri, claiming Siukayev was defending bystanders who were being harassed.

However, Anatoly Bibilov, the former South Ossetian president, dismissed Prigozhin’s statement as nonsense.

He described Tsugri as a “kind and harmless guy whom everyone, with rare exceptions, loved as their own”.

Tsugri's death follows hot on the heels of another homicide suspected of being committed by a Wagner convict at the end of March.

Yulia Buiskich, an 85-year-old pensioner, was killed at home on March 29 in the small provincial town of Novyj Burets in the Kirov region, 600 miles east of Moscow.

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28-year-old Ivan Rossomakhin was subsequently arrested in connection with her death.

Prior to joining Wagner, he had been serving a ten year jail term for a murder he committed in 2020.

News of his return caused deep concern among local residents and led to a town hall meeting attended by police chief Vadim Varankin.

Varankin promised that the "troublemaker" would be taken away from the town on March 28.

However, a day later he entered the elderly woman's wooden house, where he is believed to have killed her with an axe.