He is one of the best-known Russian propagandists: Now Semyon Pegow has been injured by an anti-personnel mine in the Donbass. The 37-year-old is not the first war supporter to be harmed by such an explosive device.
Russian war blogger and propagandist Semyon Pegov has been wounded in Ukraine, according to his online project WarGonzo. Pegov was injured in the leg by a so-called "butterfly mine" near the village of Vodyanoye in the Donetsk region, according to the Telegram channel "WarGonzo". His life is not in danger.
It was later announced that Pegow had had a successful operation and was in good spirits. He will have to use crutches for the next six to eight weeks. "It's the price of a dangerous profession. But everything will be fine and we will win," says a picture of Pegow in a hospital bed shared on his channel.
Pegov is one of Russia's widest-reaching propagandists. Compared to state television, he presents a harsher picture of the war in Ukraine online. Pegow started his "WarGonzo" project as a YouTube channel in 2017. He is now followed by more than a million users on Telegram. The Daily Mail once described him as "Putin's war tourist". Before "WarGonzo", Pegow worked for a pro-government online medium and accompanied Russian troops in Syria and in the illegal annexation of Crimea. In 2014 he was honored by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for his "objective reporting".
Pegov is not the first Russian pro-war advocate to be harmed by a "butterfly mine." In August, the political activist Zemfira Suleimanova was killed in Donbass by a Lepestok PFM-1 explosive device. The 25-year-old campaigned on Tiktok for the imperialist agenda of the national-Bolshevik party "Other Russia".
"Butterfly mines" are small anti-personnel mines that are usually deployed by aircraft, rockets or artillery shells. The Lepestok PFM-1 dates back to Soviet times and can be found in both Russian and Ukrainian arsenals. Moscow claims that Kyiv is using the mines in the Donbass. According to information from the British secret service, the explosive devices are being used by Russia.
