War in Ukraine LIVE: Pro-Russian authorities in Kherson accuse kyiv of killing four people… – 20 Minutes

12:50 p.m .: The Wagner military company, a creature of the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to an ex-mercenary In the Donbass in Ukraine, then in Syria, Alexander Zlodeev served several years in the Wagner group. For the former mercenary, who is seeking political asylum in France, this Russian paramilitary company, created in 2014, was wanted and equipped by the Russian authorities from the start. “I was present at the time of the creation of this organization”, affirms Alexander Zlodeev, 53, met by AFP on Monday at the reception center for political asylum seekers, on the site of the Paris airport Roissy- Charles de Gaulle. Authorized to enter the territory on Thursday after arriving in France on October 12, this thin man, with light eyes and short gray hair, remembers having joined the Wagner group between 2014 and 2015, at the time the outbreak of the conflict in the Donbass between Ukrainian loyalist troops and pro-Russian separatist forces. At the time, he was, according to him, one of the organizers of the Russian March, an annual gathering of far-right or monarchist groups. AFP was unable to verify the veracity of his statements. “We received information that in the Donbass, in the Lugansk region, Russians were being killed because they spoke Russian. So we went to defend the Russians. There, we were noticed and we were offered to join Wagner”. He assures him, however, he did not fight: “I worked at headquarters, in front of a computer, in an office in charge of the administration of the troops”, he specifies.