Wagner Group fighters block police officers at Rostov police departments
Wagner Group fighters seized district police stations in Rostov Oblast on the night of 23-24 June and are continuing to keep their staff locked up in their offices.
Source: Novaya Gazeta Europe, citing sources in Russia’s law enforcement agencies.
Details: Wagner Group fighters seized the premises of district police stations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast on the night of 23-24 June and are continuing to control them, two sources in Russia’s law enforcement told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Police officers and other staff who came to the police station offices in the wake of the alarm are currently locked up in their offices: they were told to "sit and work" but are allowed to request food and water.
Sources also told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the SOBR (Special Rapid Response Unit of the Russian National Guard) and OMON (Special Purpose Police Unit, a Russian riot police unit) are also being held at their bases, and Russian Guard soldiers are held in vehicles for transporting guardsmen. A different source has confirmed that SOBR forces are being held, telling Novaya Gazeta that the Wagnerites have parked a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted on top in front of the SOBR building.
Several vehicles with machine guns are patrolling the Aksay Bridge, a road bridge that serves as the main entry to Rostov-on-Don, another source told Novaya Gazeta.
Background:
- On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He has therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
- Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow" and that his soldiers had shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner mercenaries have also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.
- In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is "fighting for survival" and that there are attempts to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
- On the afternoon of 24 June, a convoy of Wagner Group forces was spotted only 400 kilometres away from Moscow.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
