A PUTIN mercenary who kept a “skull of a dead Ukrainian soldier” as a prize has been gunned down in a targeted attack.
Igor Mangushev was shot in the head and rushed to a hospital in Donetsk, Ukraine, where he is reportedly in a “grave” condition.
3Igor Mangushev holding up the skull on stageCredit: East2West
3The Putin fanatic is head of an ultra-nationalist movementCredit: East2WestThe hit on the sick Russian propagandist happened in the early hours of Saturday, January 4.
Analysts claim the assassination attempt may be a warning to the leader of Russia’s mercenary Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Mangushev, 36, was one of Russia’s most notable TV spin doctors before he enlisted in Putin’s army using the call name, Bereg.
Shocking pictures on social media showed Mangushev lying bloodied on a hospital bed connected to “life support” equipment.
His friend Boris Rozhkin shared the image, who described his condition as “grave”.
According to The Telegraph, doctors concluded he was shot from a handgun at close range.
No further details of the attack can be confirmed.
However, Russia expert Mark Galeotti believed Mangushev had significant ties to the Wagner group and that it could have been a proxy attack.
Galeotti said: “I think we can safely describe this as a hit.
“This could be a warning or taking a pawn off the board.
“Or it is a sign that Mr Prigozhin’s more thuggish rivals feel he is weakened enough that they can move.”
In August 2022, Mangushev disgraced himself publicly brandishing the skull of a “dead Ukrainian fighter” during a stage show.
The skull supposedly belonged to a slain fighter killed near the Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine.
During a speech, deranged Mangushev held up the skull and said: “We’re alive and this guy is already dead.
“Let him burn in hell. He wasn’t lucky. We’ll make a goblet out of his skull.”
He ranted: “Why can’t there be any reconciliation?
“Ukraine must be de-Ukrainised. The Russian lands of Novorossiya must be returned back.
“We are not at war with people of blood and flesh. We are at war with an idea — Ukraine as an anti-Russian state.
“This is the tragedy of Ukrainian soldiers. We don’t care how many we have to kill them.
“If we were at war with people we could make peace with them.”
Mangushev is supposedly fighting against Ukraine but he is also the head of nationalist movement Light Russia and a creator of a private army ENOT, which is said to have links to the FSB.
The chilling performance with the human skull violates the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and is a war crime in international law.
On his Telegram channel, the twisted Russian has also openly called for the killing of civilians.
His post read: “We will burn your houses, kill your families, take away your children and raise them Russians.”
3Mangushev claimed the skull was a dead UkrainianCredit: East2West
Story Credit: thesun.co.uk