The confrontation between the regular military and PMC Wagner continues – Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Federation was taken prisoner

After the shelling of the Wagnerites by the Russian military, they captured a lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federation, said the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, providing a video of the interrogation.

About it reported Prigozhin’s press service, publishing his statement and interrogation of the prisoner. The head of Wagner claims that on May 17, when they were trying to clear the road from Bakhmut, his fighters were fired upon by Russian military personnel:

“We found land mines in the form of a large number of plastids, anti-tank mines and artillery shells, installed in a controlled version and brought to the positions of the Ministry of Defense. After a preliminary inspection, the group began demining, but was forced to stop work, because in the area of ​​​​the settlement of Semigorye they small-arms fire was opened from the positions of the Ministry of Defense.

He claims that as a result of the shelling, a Ural truck was disabled by a direct hit on the engine. The “Wagnerites” themselves allegedly did not suffer. Prigozhin said that they captured the “offender”, who was heavily drunk – the commander of the Russian military. A video has been published with the detainee, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Venevitin, who introduces himself as the commander of the 72nd brigade of Russian troops and claims that he opened fire on the “Wagnerites” because of personal hostility. He admits he was drunk.
Hristo Grozev, a journalist at Bellingcat, confirmed that Venevitin is indeed a career military officer of the Russian Federation, a lieutenant colonel.

On June 2, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry had placed anti-tank mines and other explosive devices along the routes along which the Wagner forces were withdrawing from Bakhmut. According to him, the mines were placed in the rear areas where there is no activity on the part of Ukraine, and therefore the Defense Ministry probably had the goal of giving Wagner a “public flogging.”

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