Russia: an ex-member of Wagner sows panic in the Rostov region
The Wagner Center in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Monday, October 31, 2022. AP
Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow
1 min
For a few hours on Tuesday, December 6, a man caused panic in Novoshakhtinsk, in the Rostov region, in southern Russia.
Armed and dressed in camouflage, he even shot at police officers.
This Wednesday morning we learn that it was an ex-member of Wagner.
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From our correspondent in Moscow,
Closure of kindergartens, recommendation to residents not to go out, blocking of entrances and exits to the city with a gigantic traffic jam as a result, there were a few hours of panic this December 7 in Novoshakhtinsk when a man armed with a Kalashnikov attacked the police before being arrested near an old abandoned pig farm.
Very quickly, we suspected in the region the profile of a deserter, the combat zone being very close.
But a very particular deserter.
As of this Wednesday, the Russian media Baza, known to have good sources with the security forces, drew up this precise profile: Pavel Nikolin, 43, who was serving a sentence for robbery in the penal colony of Ufa in the south of Russia when he was recruited by Wagner.
He would have deserted on November 24.
► To read also:
The paramilitary group Wagner poses as a competitor to the Russian army
“Wagner will also conduct his investigation”
Asked, the boss of the mercenary company made this answer on his Telegram channel: “
A special thank you to the police officers responsible for this arrest, I recommend the wonderful film
Rambo to them.
It is also necessary to separately investigate how this type of incident, which should be classified as 'top secret', fell into the hands of journalists
”.
Before adding, thinly veiled threat: “
Wagner will also conduct his investigation
”.
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