Russian activist Vitaly Votanovsky, who revealed details of the funerals of Wagner group fighters who died in the invasion of Ukraine, had to leave Russia after a series of death threats, the BBC reports, and transmitted by N1.
Votanovsky documented the killings of Russian soldiers in Ukraine by observing cemeteries in the area of Russia where he lives, writes the BBC.
He was arrested and imprisoned on February 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A former officer of the Russian army went out to protests that day wearing clothes that read "No to Putin!" and "No war!".
Photos of Vitaly in his clothes are included in official court documents that Vitaly showed to the BBC.
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"Because of that coat I got 20 days in prison!" he says.
Vitaly was the first to discover the notorious cemetery in the small village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar region, which has since become known as the Wagner Cemetery.
This is where this brutal mercenary army buries many fighters who died in Ukraine and who had no relatives or no one came to collect their bodies.
It started as a small village cemetery and grew huge, with several new zones for the more and more dead that arrived. Now the cemetery is patrolled by a guard.
Vitaly first visited cemeteries in the Krasnodar region and recorded the number of fallen members of the Russian Federation army, starting in May 2022.
"I wanted to prove to people that a disaster is happening, that people are dying near them," Vitaly told the BBC.
In December 2022, he arrives in Bakunskaja, expecting to find the graves of members of the regular army. However, then the workers at the cemetery discovered to him and another colleague that they were burying members of the Wagner group who had fallen in battle.
"When we were there, there were 48 Wagner graves. The next time we visited, a few days later, there were 95. Then, 164, then around 270," says Vitaly.
He kept going back to record the number and names of the dead. He says that it was clear that they were mercenaries and convicts.
"They were recruited from prison. Journalists found out what they were convicted of through their names," he says.
He started receiving death threats several months ago – "we will kill you", "we will suffocate you" and the like, says Votanovski.
"Someone called me and offered me a 'place in the cemetery'... There were three such calls, two for me, one for my driver Viktor," says Vitaly.
In one of the threats seen by the BBC, an unidentified man tells the activist: "Now is the time to start thinking about the end of your life."
Vitalij says that the situation from last Sunday was "the last straw".
"I was walking past the police stations in Krasnodar and a policeman recognized me. He said – 'get ready, just a little longer'. He was talking about the state's reaction to the interviews he gave.
After that, Votanovski fled to Armenia, and plans to apply for asylum in Germany.
He says he wanted to show the Russian people the extent of the "disaster" of the war in Ukraine.
"If people knew the true numbers of those killed on the battlefield, they would go crazy," Vitalij says.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin visited the cemetery in the village of Bakinskaja on Thursday and said he plans to turn it into a monument "for future generations."
The head of the mercenary group admitted that the cemetery had expanded, adding "that's life".
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