{"id":121040,"date":"2023-11-04T12:09:19","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T12:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uklevitrasupport.com\/?p=121040"},"modified":"2023-11-04T12:09:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T12:09:19","slug":"ive-been-put-on-putins-most-wanted-list-its-a-badge-of-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uklevitrasupport.com\/world-news\/ive-been-put-on-putins-most-wanted-list-its-a-badge-of-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’ve been put on Putin’s most wanted list \u2014 it’s a badge of honour’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine Police detain man who blew up gas stations in Kharkiv<\/h3>\n

“I wasn’t surprised when I heard I’d been added to the list,” Mamuka Mamulashvili, the 45-year-old leader of the Georgian Legion who is one of Vladimir Putin’s most wanted, told Express.co.uk.<\/p>\n

Since 2014, he and what was initially a group of volunteers but is now a fully-fledged military unit have fought against Russia in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

That is nine long years of brutal warfare, mostly in Ukraine’s east but recently elsewhere in the country, often on the frontlines and often just moments away from his opposite numbers.<\/p>\n

“It was only a matter of time before they placed me on that list, it is another way of them trying to discredit us,” he said.<\/p>\n

But to be discredited by, in Mr Mamulashvili’s words, “a war criminal”, is something that stirs in him not fear but warmth, a credential he could’ve only hoped for in a long military career.<\/p>\n

READ MORE <\/strong> Georgian military group ‘ready’ to send men to Israel to fight ‘Russia’ in Gaza<\/strong><\/p>\n

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“It is a great honour,” he said. “A badge of honour, in fact, because Putin is an internationally sanctioned war criminal.<\/p>\n

“If I’m doing the right thing, then it is only logical that they are opening a criminal case against me. It feels great, it is a great honour to be defending something good.”<\/p>\n

His name was added to the list on October 5 for, the Kremlin said, his “alleged involvement in recruitment and participation in hostilities on behalf of the Ukrainian armed forces”, and is part of a broader criminal case against him and over 70 fighters in the Georgian Legion \u2014 allegations which they deny.<\/p>\n

The Georgian Legion has fought in many if not all of the key battles in Ukraine this last year.<\/p>\n

Their soldiers were there during the Battle of Antonov Airport, the Battle of Kyiv in the early days of the war, the first major battle of Hostomel, the battle of Moshchun, the battle of Volnovakha, the battle of Irpin, Izium, Rubinzhne, Kharkiv, the siege of Mairupol and the ongoing battle of Bakhmut.<\/p>\n

In short, wherever Russia has appeared, the Georgian Legion hasn’t been far away.<\/p>\n

Much of the group is made up of ethnic Georgians, though it numbers in its ranks other nationalities, including some British soldiers.<\/p>\n

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