Pro-Russian authorities in Kherson accuse Kyiv of killing four people in a bombing…

In the Donbass in Ukraine, and then in Syria, Alexander Zlodev several years served in the Wagner group. For the former mercenary, who is seeking political asylum in France, this Russian paramilitary company, created in 2014, has been wanted and equipped by the Russian authorities from the very beginning. « J’étais présent au moment de la création de cette organisation», affirme Alexander Zlodeev, 53 ans, rencontré par l’AFP Lundi au Center d’accueil des demandseurs d’asile politique, sur le site de l’aéroport Parisien Roissy- Charles de Gaulle.

Cleared to enter the territory on Thursday after arriving in France on October 12, this skinny, light-eyed and short-haired man remembers joining the Wagner group between 2014 and 2015, when conflict broke out. In Donbass pro-Ukrainian forces oppose pro-Russian separatist forces. At that time, he was, according to him, one of the organizers of the Russian March, an annual gathering of far-right or royalist groups. Agence France-Presse was unable to verify his statements.

“We received information that the Russians are being killed in the Donbass, in the Lugansk region, because they speak Russian. So we went to the defense of the Russians. There, we were noticed and were offered to join Wagner.” But he assures him, however, that he did not fight: “I worked in Headquarters, in front of a computer, in an office responsible for managing forces,” he said.