If you have been paying attention to the news recently, you would have noted that there has been a lot of discussion over the death of a Russian soldier named Vlladimir “Vakha” Andanov. He was eliminated by Ukrainian forces, specifically a sniper team, on June 5th and was confirmed by Russian media. But why does this matter, surely he is literally of one of thousands of soldiers to be killed in the conflict?
Well, Andonov, or better known as simply “Vakha” has quite the reputation. He was a sabotage and reconnaissance specialist boasting years of military experience with the Russian military where he surved from 1997 to 2005. Vakha left the Russian military after his contract was over for better pay and he certainly got that by joining the Wagner Group. For those unaware, Wagner Group is a Russian mercenary company that has been contracted out all over but particularly been active in Africa and the Middle East. Vakha participated in several battles in and around the Donbas area of Ukraine but unfortunately this is not all that he is known for.
To many Ukrainians, Vakha was known more simply as “the executioner”. This is due to his involvement in horrific attacks in Ukraine since 2014. If you don’t believe the people, well believe the man himself. That’s right, Vakha decided that in an interview with RT he would reveal he was a part of another attack that had occurred years earlier in Donbas. Vakha proudly let the Russian media known of his role in a battle for a town called Logvinovo in Dobass. Furthermore in the interview, he laughs about launching a surprise night-time attack and then receiving an order to “destroy all the manpower of the enemy”. In the interview, Vakha details how his unit moved along and exclaimed that “there were no survivors”.
But perhaps the worst of the worst are his efforts in Logvinovo in the summer of 2014. Amnesty International was able to publish a report after extensive research of the death of 3 Ukrainian soldiers. They were Oleksandr Berdes, Vassily Dermchuck and Pavlo Plotsinkiy. These 3 men were found in a shallow grave near the village. One of the men had a rifle round shoot though his shirt but luckily it stopped there. This was also documented via photos and video which has since found its way online.
In 2017, Vakha moved along with Wagner to Libya where the survivor of a massacre told media Vakha was one of the soldiers involved in shooting his family dead. He was also active in Syria, although the details of his work there are yet to be revealed.
When the war in Ukraine erupted on additional fronts, Vakha returned and has been involved in several battles since. He is listed in the Myrotvorets database, which also lists multiple suspected crimes he is guilty of.
Happy reading!
Ben