Russian politician poses with sledgehammer in tribute to Wagner mercenaries
- The macabre gift appeared to be a thank you to Sergei Mironov, leader of the A Just Russia party, for his support of the group’s exploits in Ukraine
- The former paratrooper hailed Wagner as ‘a heroic military formation’ after it spearheaded an operation that saw Russian forces capture Soledar
A senior Russian politician on Friday published a picture of himself clutching a sledgehammer given to him by the Wagner mercenary group, a tool it has adopted as a symbol of vengeance since one was used to murder a Wagner defector last year.
The macabre gift appeared to be a thank you to Sergei Mironov, leader in parliament of the Kremlin-loyal A Just Russia party, for his support for Wagner and its exploits on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.
Mironov, a former paratrooper, has hailed Wagner, which calls itself a private military company, as “a heroic military formation” after it spearheaded an operation that saw Russian forces this month capture the Ukrainian town of Soledar.
The politician published a picture of himself posing with the sledgehammer on his social media accounts, thanking Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s founder, for the unusual gift.
The sledgehammer’s metal head bore the Wagner logo and was emblazoned with a pile of skulls.
“This is a useful tool. With its help, we will put a dent in the Nazi ideology that aims to destroy our country,” said Mironov, who like many other Russian politicians portrays the war in Ukraine as an existential struggle for Russia’s survival against a malevolent West.