The Georgian national, who had served in Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov unit, was captured early in the conflict
A court in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) sentenced a Georgian mercenary to life in prison on Monday for his actions during the battle of Mariupol back in 2022, the country’s Investigative Committee has announced.
The defendant, Nikolos Berianidze, was found guilty of acting as a mercenary on Kiev’s behalf, as well as personally killing at least three Russian servicemen.
According to Russian investigators, Berianidze had long served in the Ukrainian military, joining it in 2016 at the latest. He served in the notorious neo-Nazi Azov battalion, which was later expanded into a regiment. Before the Ukraine conflict escalated in early 2022, the unit’s members were often trained by mercenaries.
When the conflict began, Berianidze was in the city of Mariupol, where the Azov regiment and a handful of other Ukrainian units ended up being encircled. According to investigators, during the battle for the city Berianidze personally killed at least three Russian servicemen when he ambushed a military unit.
He ultimately ended up in Russian custody, the investigators noted without elaborating. It was not immediately clear whether the mercenary was among the remnants of the neo-Nazi unit that had holed up at the Azovstal steel plant before eventually surrendering or whether he was caught at some other point. Following its defeat in Mariupol, the Azov regiment was re-organized as the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade.
Georgian mercenaries have been particularly active in Ukraine. The country is one of the top three providers of foreign fighters to Kiev, alongside Poland and the US, according to official estimates released by the Russian military last year. However, the Georgian government has taken an explicitly neutral stance on the conflict, refusing to join Western sanctions on Russia and exposing Kiev’s repeated attempts to drag it into the conflict.
