According to official information, Russian security forces arrested a convicted criminal on Wednesday who is said to have shot at police officers with a machine gun in a region bordering Ukraine. According to a Russian media report, it is said to be a deserter from the Wagner mercenary group fighting in Ukraine.
According to the Russian investigative committee, the 38-year-old man is suspected of having shot at a group of police officers in the city of Novoshakhtinsk, which is part of the Russian border region of Rostov, on Tuesday, injuring one of them. After a search of almost 24 hours, he was caught in the village of Kiseljowo. According to investigators, the suspect had previously been convicted of “theft and robbery.”
According to the Telegram channel Basa, known for his good contacts with the Russian security forces, the man was serving his sentence in a Russian penal colony when he was recruited by the Wagner squad to fight in Ukraine. However, he later changed his mind and deserted.
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is reported to personally recruit convicts, would neither confirm nor deny the report. In a press release, he announced his own investigations. At the same time, he thanked the police officers for arresting the 38-year-old – adding that instead of passing on information to journalists, they should fight at the front in Ukraine.
