An obituary published by local Russian media reports the case of a sailor who was killed in Ukraine after fighting pirates in Somalia several years ago, offering an interesting perspective on the territory where some of the soldiers sent to their deaths by President Vladimir Putin hail from.

The situation was reported by Radio Free Europe journalist Mark Krutov, who said that the obituary was published by the local newspaper of Volokonovka, a city in the Belgorod region in western Russia.

A large obituary written by his son said former sailor Igor Ihorovych Stepanov, 56, was killed in Ukraine after being recently recruited by Wagner’s mercenary group.

The article also says that Wagner’s group awarded Stepanov with its medal “For Blood and Courage”.

According to the obituary, in 1999, Stepanov was offered the position of “instructor” in the 61st OMBr, after which he transferred to a specialized landing unit a few years later.

The newspaper notes that Stepanov retired in 2011 after he finished fighting, including against pirates in Somalia, and that after the start of the war on February 24, he was ready to go to the front in Ukraine, but not as a volunteer.

“Then he was offered a position as an instructor in a private military company,” his son notes, reporting that Stepanov was killed on September 24 in battles near Bakhmut, Donetsk, where the Russian army is conducting its only offensive to date.

A Russian sailor died during the offensive, in which Russia sent prisoners from prisons

The Russian offensive in Bakhmut is led by Wagner’s mercenaries, including prisoners recruited from Russian prisons. A Russian criminal who was interrogated by Ukrainian soldiers the other day was captured in this area, where it seems that the military leadership in Moscow also ordered a large number of newly mobilized recruits to be sent.

“Was Stepanov recruited by “Wagner” to “train” those ex-convicts?” Perhaps, although I don’t think they undergo extensive training like the mobilized Russians,” Mark Krutov notes.

At the same time, he says that the city where Stepanov lived before joining the group of mercenaries is only 40 kilometers from the village of Soloti, Belgorod region, where there is one of the main centers for training new recruits.

“The fact that the local press openly reports on the death of a Wagnerite would have surprised me a month ago, but it seems that now everything is becoming more transparent after Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted his connection with the Wagner group and began to act as an independent political figure.” emphasizes the journalist of Radio Europa Liberă.

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