Video Shows Russian Colonel Admitting To Attack on Wagner Group Amid Feud
Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, has published a video that he says shows a captured Russian Lieutenant Colonel admitting to opening fire on his fighters while intoxicated.
Prigozhin withdrew his paramilitary outfit from the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine last week after repeatedly accusing Russia's Defense Minstry of intentionally depriving his fighters of ammunition.
He also claimed in another post that the road on which his fighters withdrew from the city was deliberately mined by Russia's military.
Russian billionaire and businessman, Concord catering company owner Yevgeny Prigozhin attends a meeting with foreign investors at Konstantin Palace June 16, 2016 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He published a video that he says shows a captured Russian Lieutenant Colonel admitting to opening fire on his fighters. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The latest developments come amid a public feud between Prigozhin and another of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top allies, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. There has been a deepening rift in recent months between Prigozhin and Russia's military leadership.
In the video released by Prigozhin's press service, the man introduces himself as Lieutenant Colonel Roman Venevitin, commander of the 72nd motorized rifle brigade.
He said that together with between 10 to 12 of his subordinates, he disarmed a group of Wagner Group fighters and "opened fire on a Wagner PMC (private military company) vehicle [while] intoxicated from alcohol." He said he did this because of "bad blood."
When pressed on whether this type of resentment has a place in the war, Venevitin, who has a visbly damaged nosebridge in the video, said "no."
"How can your actions be characterized?" Venevitin asked. After a long pause, he replied: "Guilty."
The Insider, an independent Russian news outlet, reported that it was able to confirm the identity of the person in the video as Venevitin Roman Gennadievich, born in 1978—a Russian serviceman who graduated from a military academy.
"It seems that the feud between PMC Wagner and Russian regular army got on the next level," tweeted Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, of the video.
Prigozhin also claimed that on May 17 that Russia's military had left land mines that were deliberately targeted at his fighters, as they were placed on routes for the Wagner Group's withdrawal from Bakhmut. Russian forces opened fire on his troops as they attempted to clear the mines, he said.
"At the moment, an investigation is underway. Many facts are not public. However, I can publish the initial report and video evidence of what happened there," he said via his press service, releasing a short clip that appears to show mines being dug up from the ground.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
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Source: Newsweek
