Former Wagner Mercenary Recruited From Russian Prison Accused Of Killing Six

A former fighter from the Wagner mercenary group who was recruited from prison last year has been accused of stabbing six people to death after returning home to Russia following a tour of duty in the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

Officials in Russia's northwestern region of Karelia said on August 2 that the bodies of five men and a woman with stab wounds had been found in two partially burned houses located next to each other in the village of Derevyannoye a day earlier.

Police said they have detained two suspects with criminal records -- 38-year-old Maksim Bochkaryov and 37-year-old Igor Sofonov. Sofonov was recruited by Wagner last year from a penal colony where he was serving time for theft, robbery, armed robbery, and attempted murder.

In the spring of this year, he returned to his native Karelia after he was handed clemency as part of his contract to fight with Wagner in Ukraine.

Sofonov and Bochkaryov will be held in pretrial detention for at least two months on murder charges. The two have pleaded not guilty.