The head of the Wagner paramilitary organization said on Monday that he had captured a Russian officer whose unit allegedly attacked his men, a new example of the tensions between that armed group and the regular forces.
“On May 17, men from the (Russian) Defense Ministry were seen mining the roads behind the positions of Wagner units,” Yevgeny Prigozhin was quoted as saying by his press service in a report to that ministry. “The Wagner combatants who proceeded to clear the mine were attacked by shots coming from the Defense Ministry positions,” according to the same source.
“There is an ongoing investigation and various facts cannot be made public, but I am putting here this initial report and video evidence of what really happened there,” said Prigozhin, who is in open conflict with the Russian regular army command.
Wagner’s boss also released video of the interrogation of an imprisoned Russian officer, who introduces himself as “commander of the 72nd motorized brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Vinevitenov.”
In this video, the man confesses that he “attacked” the Wagner units, and acted “in a state of intoxication, guided by personal animosity.”
On Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who frequently criticizes the military headquarters of the Russian army, accused him of “giving up” territories in the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine and affected in recent days by intense shelling and ground attacks.
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