Russia's Wagner mercenary group has cast doubt on a video appearing to show the brutal killing of a Wagner soldier for defecting to the Ukrainians.

In a new video clip, released by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, the soldier says, "I was forgiven."

And in a post on his Telegram channel, Mr Prigozhin calls the soldier, Dmitry Yakushchenko, "a fine fellow". บาคาร่า350

Wagner may have faked the earlier video. It appeared to show Yakushchenko being hit fatally with a sledgehammer.

Mr Prigozhin joked about that video in reply to an inquiry from Russian news outlet Ostorozhno Media about Yakushchenko's true fate.

"Ksenia, don't treat everything so gloomily. The kids are having fun," the Wagner chief wrote enigmatically.

He said the case was not a one-off drama, but more like the hit Soviet-era TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring, a thriller set in World War Two. "You know, good always triumphs over evil," he added.