By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A Russian convicted criminal, Igor Kusk who was serving a 23-year jail term has been killed in Ukraine during an action where he was drafted to fight for his country, Russian news outlet, Business Gazeta reports.
Kusk was the leader of a gang in Tatarstan and was found guilty of various crimes, including murders in 2015, and was imprisoned in a strict regime prison colony, reports say.
While in prison, Kusk sent a letter to the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, asking to join the fight in Ukraine, his widow Irina told the outlet.
A representative from the paramilitary Wagner Group came to get him, and she said he was sent to the front line on July 25.
He died on September 6 fighting in the Bakhmut region in the Donbas from a shrapnel injury to the head, said the report.
His widow said Kusk was 55 and not in perfect health but was not afraid of anyone. He had previously served in the Soviet-Afghan War, it was reported.
Numerous photos of the Kusk’s funeral in a village near Kazan, 800km (500 miles) east of Moscow, appear to show it was attended by hundreds of mourners, including local officials.
Men in military uniform fired three volleys into the air from machine guns. The former crime lord was buried in the “walk of fame” of the city cemetery alongside other soldiers killed in Ukraine, and photos show his grave adorned with large bouquets, reported Business Gazeta.
A video recently surfaced of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the shadowy Wagner Group and a close Putin ally, recruiting men at a Russian prison to fight in Ukraine.
Prigozhin promised them freedom if they served for six months but warned that they would be killed if they tried to desert.
