Wagner mercenaries fighting for Putin‘s forces in occupied Ukraine have claimed they are now being hunted by Russian death squads after exposing a drug trafficking ring involving officials in the territory.
Masked soldiers, who say they are former Wagner PMC fighters attached to Russia‘s 331st Guards Parachute Airborne Regiment in Luhansk, shared a video saying they expect to be stormed by Russian special forces.
The unit said they found one of their soldiers using drugs and launched an investigation to track down the dealers, which they said exposed a traffic cop and other local officials as the criminals behind the major drug ring.
But rather than being commended for punishing them, the group says they are now being targeted by their own side, who they claim have asked for the officials to be released.
In the video, the mercenary fighters say Spetznaz – Russian special forces troops – ‘are already starting to move in. That is, people are preparing, they are pulling up, troops are gathering.
‘Perhaps the Russian army will come to destroy its people, who, apparently, somewhere, crossed a line with our actions,’ one says, before vowing to fight back against attacks from their own side.
The masked soldiers say they are former Wagner PMC fighters attached to Russia ‘s 331st Guards Parachute Airborne Regiment in Luhansk
The soldiers say they previously served in Wagner PMC, which was headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin until his apparent assassination following a short-lived mutiny against Moscow.
After Prigozhin’s death, Putin ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state – a step that Prigozhin had opposed due to his anger at the defence ministry that he said risked losing the Ukraine war.
Now some of those who have seemingly come under the command of the Kremlin and are fighting in Ukraine appear to have rebelled against central command, taking the law into their own hands.
The soldiers angrily question ‘what is going on in Ukraine?’ arguing that the officials they claim to be behind the drugs ring could by agents of Kyiv trying to disrupt the war effort.
‘Where is the guarantee that they are not employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine? They deliberately distributed drugs to the military.
‘It was not one person, or two, or three. They specifically focused on the military,’ a soldier says.
The soldiers angrily question ‘what is going on in Ukraine?’ arguing that the officials they claim to be behind the drugs ring could by agents of Kyiv
One of the Russian servicemen wears a skull balaclava as the group vows to fight back against any attacks from its own side
The group claims that the Luhansk People’s Republic – an illegal state proclaimed by Russia in occupied Ukraine – ‘and its accomplices’ were behind the distribution of drugs to military personnel.
The fighters said they have detained people in response, seemingly provoking anger from the LPR and Moscow.
They said that military police demanded that one detainee ‘be handed over to them and his property be given back, and they proposed that we give them the people we detained, drugs and cars, under protocol, under law.’
The group said it refused the orders and that it is now appealing for assistance as they anticipate an attack by Russian special forces.
‘Perhaps they will storm us, perhaps they will not, but they think we will surrender. We will not. They know this, they understand it perfectly,’ the soldier says.
Wagner PMC was headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin until his apparent assassination following a short-lived mutiny against Moscow
Ukrainian soldiers of Ukrainian National Guard hold their positions in the snow-covered Serebryan Forest on January 12
The apparent rebellion comes after Russian sources revealed that Wagner fighters had signed contracts with the defence ministry
British military intelligence said that up to hundreds of fighters formerly associated with Wagner have started to redeploy to Ukraine within a variety of different units.
Many more are said to have joined a variety of different Russian private military groups.
Russian, Ukrainian and Western sources have indicated that Wagner fighters are returning to the front, where thousands have already been killed fighting Kyiv’s forces.
