Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries have sent a "bloodied" sledgehammer in a violin case to the European Parliament, a report said. UK's Telegraph reported that the sledgehammer was sent to the European Parliament as members started proceedings to label the Wagner Group as terrorists.
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Sledgehammers have become an unofficial symbol of the Kremlin-linked group because its fighters use them to kill during overseas missions.
The report cited a video posted on one of Wagner Group's Telegram channels in which a suited lawyer working for the Group carries a violin case into a bare room and places it on a table.
The lawyer then lifts the lid of the violin case, showing off a highly polished sledgehammer whose head has been engraved with Wagner's logo and the handle has been dabbed with red paint to depict blood.
{{/usCountry}}The lawyer then lifts the lid of the violin case, showing off a highly polished sledgehammer whose head has been engraved with Wagner's logo and the handle has been dabbed with red paint to depict blood.
{{/usCountry}}Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier and founder of Wagner Group also known as Putin's chef, said that he was sending the sledgehammer to the European Parliament as “information”. Yevgeny Prigozhin runs a catering company and was photographed serving Kremlin guests.
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The European Parliament this week declared Russia a terrorist state for invading Ukraine. The report said that the European Parliament had not yet received the sledgehammer and said that they suspected that it may be a stunt.
Wagner Group has earned a reputation for distasteful stunts, including posting videos of its fighters posing with musical instruments in bombed-out towns in Donbas, east Ukraine.