IIn a video circulating on Telegram, Russian war blogger Semyon Pegov, known as “War Gonzo,” lies on a sickbed somewhere in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. He is dressed in an olive green T-shirt and jogging bottoms, and his right leg is in a cast. He talks about the day before when he “reported” from the front. There he accompanied fighters from the Somalia Battalion, which belongs to the Donetsk separatists, in their battle with an enemy tank, “gonzo style”, as he calls it. Eventually, he was kicked into something and wounded, but the fighters “heroically evacuated” him.
Pegow has been reporting almost continuously from the combat zone in Ukraine since the end of February. For his audience on Telegram, he spreads the Russian perspective on the war. The Ukrainian troops are presented in his channel as Nazis who terrorized their own population. Pegow is now one of the most far-reaching Russian propagandists; during the war in Ukraine, his followers grew to over 1.3 million people. He is “embedded” with the Russian fighters, but usually not with regular troops, but with militias from the self-proclaimed People’s Republics.
Shaky action scenes and permanent violations of limits are part of the program. On “War Gonzo”, for example, Ukrainian prisoners of war are interviewed several times in front of the camera, whose display is actually forbidden under the Geneva Conventions. The central element of Pegow’s reporting is the action-packed proximity to the events. The often shaky video clips are intended to show the everyday life of the simple, “heroically fighting” soldiers and come as close as possible to the firefights. Pegow and his colleagues stand next to firing rocket launcher batteries and artillery systems, ride on the tanks of the Russian combatants.
The day of Pegow’s meticulously documented injury can also be tracked on Telegram. One photo shows the war blogger together with the leader of the Donetsk separatists, Denis Puschilin, armed with an assault rifle. Another video shows a bloody foot sticking out of a troop carrier. In addition, one hears Pegow’s voice, who tells of his meeting with Pushilin and promises his viewers a fascinating special report. Several separate clips show Pegow lying in a field in soaked military gear being doctored or limping to an ambulance in the company of several fighters. He repeats greetings to his followers in unending unison and emphasizes that everything is fine.
An explanation for Pegow’s foot injury will also be provided on the channel shortly. A picture of a broken boot is said to have Pegov stepping into a butterfly mine with the Russian designation “Lepestok PFM-1”. In August, the influencer Semfira Sulejmanova, who was loyal to the Kremlin, allegedly died from such a mine in the Ukrainian war zone.
Pegow does not appear to have a serious injury. Russian news sites say the war blogger will need six to eight weeks to recover. There is a good chance that War Gonzo will then continue to produce Russian war propaganda near the front line – wherever it is then.
