A man allegedly recruited by Russia’s Wagner group to fight in Ukraine while incarcerated has been arrested after he deserted his post and killed a Russian police officer.
The notorious Kremlin-linked mercenary group began turning to Russia’s penal system earlier this year to bolster its ranks in Ukraine, western defense officials confirmed in September.
The incarcerated were offered release from prison in exchange for their service on the front lines as Russia sought to add men to its fighting force and counter its heavy casualties.
Russian troops take part in exercises at the Kadamovskiy shooting range in Rostov region, southern Russia, December 14, 2021.
(AP)
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According to Russian news reports on Wednesday, 38-year-old Pavel Nikolin was arrested on suspicion of shooting a police officer on Tuesday in the Russian city of Novoshakhtinsk, located less than 15 miles from the border with Ukraine’s Luhansk region.
Russia’s Telegram channel Baza – which regularly publishes information related to Russian government or military reports – reported that Nikolin was serving a sentence on charges related to robbery at a correctional facility near the eastern Russian city of Ufa.
A mural depicting Russian ‘Wagner Group’ paramilitary mercenaries reading ‘Wagner Group – Russian Knights’ on the wall of a building in Belgrade, Nov. 17, 2022.
(OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images)
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Wagner’s recruit reportedly “changed his mind” about the fighting in the Ukraine and abandoned his post on 24 November.
The circumstances of the attack when Nikolin fired at police officers with a Kalashnikov assault rifle – a Soviet-era weapon dubbed the AK-47 – remain unclear.
At least one police officer was injured in the scuffle and Russian authorities reportedly shut down public transport and encouraged residents to stay indoors as a manhunt ensued, RIA reported.
Nikolin was reportedly found at a pig farm on Wednesday, where he resisted arrest before footage on Baza showed him being escorted by Russian officials.
Soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine fire on Russian positions from an anti-aircraft gun in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022.
(AP Photo/Andrij Marienko)
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It’s unclear what will happen to Nikolin next, though comments made by Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier this year suggest he could be sentenced to death.
“Nobody goes back behind bars,” Prigozhin told detainees according to September reports. “If you discount six months, you’re free. If you arrive in Ukraine and decide it’s not for you, we will execute you.”
