By Bond Robertson 
On Tuesday, several international media reported, among others Sky Newsthat the police launched a massive manhunt for a gunman who opened fire on police in Russia.
Describing the man as a “deserter with an automatic weapon,” he allegedly opened fire on police near a customs office in the city of Novoshakhtinsk, close to the border with Ukraine.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, a police officer was shot.
He was recruited for Wagner
After about a day on the run, the suspect was arrested by police on Wednesday. This was reported by the Governor of the Rostov Oblast Region, Vasily Golubev, on his Telegram account.
The Baza news agency claimed that the arrested man was a deserter from the Wagner private military group. He is said to have been recruited into the group when he was serving a prison sentence.
Former US Commander-in-Chief of the Wagner Group
However, he is said to have been “at large” since November 24. The reason is unknown.
The Wagner Group, an organization that does not exist on paper, is an organization made up of mercenaries.
For years, it was not known who was behind the paramilitary organizationbut in 2022 the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin recognized him to be the founder of the group. He is considered one of the closest associates of Vladimir Putin.
former guest
At the end of October, Prigozhin is said to have admitted that the group recruits prisoners from Russian prisons. According to the information, this also includes people with serious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C.
Execution of a mercenary: – Killed like an animal
The district’s 112th post wrote on Telegram on Tuesday that police were searching for a missing woman when a man in camouflage clothing suddenly appeared from the woods and started shooting.
As a result of the incident, the city’s residents were told to stay home, at the request of the authorities.
The police established that the man was previously in prison and served a sentence for theft and theft. The man was identified as a Russian man in his 30s. However, they did not comment on the information that he is a Wagner deserter.
The person is charged with serious violence against a police officer and illegal possession of a firearm.
Baza said the injured policeman was shot in the hip area. The extent of the damage is not known to the public. The police are investigating the case.
“extremely confidential”
The Wagner founder would neither confirm nor deny that the man now accused is a deserter from the Wagner Group, but he did speak about the case on Telegram:
– If he really was a Wagner warrior and committed a crime, then it is necessary to investigate separately how this kind of incident, classified as “top secret”, fell into the hands of journalists, as well as how this person crossed the border in Russia, Prigozhin writes.
He wants more mercenaries
Prigozhin points out that his main question regarding the case is not whether one or the other person left the combat zone, as that person might have been injured, or had become insane and disoriented.
– However, my main question is how did the Wagner soldier with weapons in his hands end up on the territory of the Russian Federation? How across the border? (…) Is this a PMC hunter or maybe a representative of a subversive group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?