Wagner PMC mercenaries stole tanks from the Russian Armed Forces
8 June, 2023 Commander of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lt. Col. Roman Venevitin, June 2023
Lt. Col. Roman Venevitin, former commander of the 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, recorded a video in which he accused the Wagner PMC mercenaries of stealing equipment and torturing Russian soldiers.
The video was published on social media. The Russian lieutenant colonel, who was previously captured by the Wagner PMC mercenaries, said that they repeatedly provoked servicemen into conflicts and threatened them with murder, beat, and humiliated Russian soldiers. The officer testified that mercenaries kidnapped soldiers and then traded them back for ammunition.
One of the kidnapped soldiers committed suicide after humiliation and rape. Mercenaries often forced Russian soldiers to remove corpses and forced them to sign contracts with the Wagner PMC. According to the lieutenant colonel, a private military company's mercenaries also stole two T-80 tanks, four cannons, one truck, and an infantry fighting vehicle during hostilities in the Bakhmut area.
Capture of a Russian officer
On June 4, Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Russian Wagner private military company, published a report which claimed that soldiers of the Russian Defense Ministry were spotted in the Ozarianivka and Opytny areas.
They crossed the road behind the Wagner PMC, which at that time was still fighting for control of Bakhmut. According to Prigozhin, the mercenaries started demining, but they faced small arms fire from positions in the Semihiria district. The Russian military destroyed the URAL truck belonging to the Wagner PMC mercenaries but did not hit any of the personnel.
After that, according to the report, Wagner PMC soldiers were able to detain the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, led by an officer. He turned out to be the commander of the 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade (UIN 13647).
??? ??? "??????" ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??. ?????????, ?? ??
72 ???????, ??? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ??????????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????????. https://t.co/USqjRx7Vez pic.twitter.com/XJKQMwqsat -- ?????????? (@mil_in_ua) June 4, 2023
Mercenaries of the Wagner PMC assured that he was drunk. However, already on June 8, Venevitin, who was released from captivity, recorded a video in which he claimed that the conflict with the mercenaries started due to unreasonable demands on the brigade commander, which he refused to fulfill, as he is not subordinate to the PMC.
After the rude refusal, the mercenaries captured the commander of the 72nd brigade. "They tortured me in the way that any embittered Russian soldier would not abuse a captured soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They beat me, did not let me sleep.
They took me out for execution three times during the night," Venevitin said. He called the video that Prigozhin released to be recorded under pressure and threats.
He explained that in the video, his condition had the consequences of a concussion, which are allegedly confirmed by medical documents. According to the officer, the mining of the rear areas, which the Wagner PMC mercenaries declared, is nothing but a lie, as the mines were laid in the area of responsibility of the 72nd brigade, and not in the rear of the mercenaries. Venevitin stated that he plans to publish evidence of the events described above.
The lieutenant colonel claims that the video he recorded was made solely on his initiative.
At the same time, it is noticeable that throughout the video, the officer reads the text written on paper.