Russian Army Officer Who Waved Ukrainian Skull At Rallies Dies of Gunshot Wound

The officer, Igor Mangushev, was shot at a checkpoint in Russian-occupied Luhansk. 

It is not clear if he was killed by Ukrainian special forces - or was a victim of incessant Russian military-political feuding. JL  

RFE/RL reports:

Russian Army officer Igor Mangushev gained prominence for speaking on stage holding the skull of a Ukrainian soldier while calling for the death of "as many Ukrainian soldiers as necessary." Mangushev said the skull belonged to a Ukrainian soldier who had been killed during fighting in Mariupol. Mangushev was shot February 4th at a checkpoint near the town of Kadiyivka in a part of Ukraine's Luhansk region controlled by Russia-backed separatists. He died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. He was an associate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner private mercenary group.

Russian Army officer Igor Mangushev, who gained prominence last year for speaking on stage holding what he said was the skull of a Ukrainian soldier while calling for the death of "as many Ukrainian soldiers as necessary," has died in a hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound to his head.

 

Mangushev's associate, Akim Apachev, said on February 8 that the anti-Ukraine propagandist had been in a coma since being shot on February 4 at a checkpoint near the town of Kadiyivka in a part of Ukraine's Luhansk region, which is controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

It remains unclear who shot Mangushev and why. Some media reports say he was shot at close proximity.

Last August, a video showing Mangushev holding the skull of what he said was a Ukrainian soldier at a concert circulated around the Internet and sparked an outcry in Ukraine.

Mangushev said in the video that the skull belonged to a Ukrainian soldier who had been killed during Russia's invasion of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. He added that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was fighting against "the idea of Ukraine as an anti-Russia state," adding that "all who support that idea must be eliminated."

It has not been independently verified whether the skull actually belonged to a Ukrainian soldier.

After the video appeared on the Internet, Kyiv turned to the United Nations, asking it to condemn the video.

Mangushev positioned himself as a Russian military officer, a political strategist, and an associate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-linked founder and leader of the Wagner private mercenary group.

Media reports also said that Mangushev was a co-founder of another mercenary group called ENOT (United People's Communal Fellowships) that was involved in Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and military operations in Ukraine’s east and Syria.