Russia's Wagner Returns Wrong Dead Bodies To Families; Sends Incorrect Death Reports

Russia's infamous mercenary group, the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), has reportedly been returning the wrong dead bodies to the families as well as issuing incorrect death reports.

In one case outlined in the report of independent outlet TV Rain, Angelina, whose husband was recruited into the Wagner group, was told by a representative of the private military company that her husband had died. She later received a zinc coffin, along with her husband's medals and a death certificate that had been signed in Bakhmut.

The representative later told Angelina there was "no need to open the coffin," adding that the military group takes "some DNA" from their mercenaries before being deployed to the war.

"They told us that there is no need to open the coffin, because before they send [to the war], they take some DNA, and when the corpses are found, they compare. They told us: we give you a 100% guarantee that it is he," Angelina told the outlet.

A few weeks later, however, she received a letter claiming her husband was alive and in the city of Debaltseve in Donetsk Oblast. She also received a call from a person who introduced himself as an officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) who claimed her husband was detained in December and is now under the custody of Ukrainian authorities.

The outlet noted that there were several other similar stories of relatives being told their loved ones have been killed in the war in Ukraine and Wagner representatives dissuading them from opening the coffins.

The Wagner Group is believed to have recruited between 42,000 and 43,000 prisoners to fight against Ukrainian forces. Out of the thousands recruited, 40,000 are either dead or missing and only 10,000 are left on the battlefield in Ukraine, Olga Romanova, the head of Russia Behind Bars, a charity advocating prisoners' rights, said in a video published by YouTube channel My Russian Rights.

"Our data shows that, as of late December, 42,000–43,000 inmates had been recruited. By now, this is probably upwards of 50,000. Out of that number, 10,000 are now fighting at the front, because the rest have either been killed or wounded, or went AWOL, or deserted, or surrendered," she said, as translated by Meduza.

Romanova also said the Wagner Group has been plagued with desertion since last fall and believes that PMC writes off deserters as dead, leading to them sending empty zinc coffins to their families back in Russia.