Wagner mercenaries tortured me and stole tanks from the Russian army, captured lieutenant says

A senior officer in the Russian army who was kept as prisoner by the Wagner mercenary group has said he was tortured in captivity and that its members stole weapons including tanks from his unit in an explosive monologue that lays bare the growing rift between the Russian military and the private militias fighting in Ukraine.

Lieutenant Colonel Roman Vinivitin, commander of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorised Rifle Brigade, who was previously recorded apologising for ordering his men to shoot at Wagner forces near Bakhmut, said the confession was made under duress.

“I was captured, held in the basement, and bullied in a way any embittered Russian soldier would not bully a captive Ukrainian soldier,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has regularly attacked Russia’s military establishment (Photo: Telegram)

“I was beaten, not allowed to sleep, and three times during the night they dragged me out of the basement and threatened to shoot me. The video of my interrogation is a result of pressure.”

Colonel Vinvitin said that other Russian soldiers had been subjected to even worse treatment at the hands of Wagner. “A petty officer of one of our battalions was kidnapped, tortured, acid was sprayed in his eyes, petrol was poured over him,” he said.

The officer went on to claim that the mercenaries had stolen equipment from his unit, including two T-80 tanks and several other vehicles.

The claims came after the senior soldier was released from Wagner captivity. The Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that Lieutenant Vinivitin ordered his men to fire on mercenary fighters and lay mines on a road they were using.

In a video message posted on Mr Prigozhin’s social media channels earlier this week, the captive said he did it due to “personal animosity.”

The episode is just the latest flashpoint between the Russian army and Wagner. Mr Prigozhin has published a series of ferocious attacks on the Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, accusing them of starving his men of ammunition and calling for them to be executed as traitors.

Wagner has developed a reputation for brutality after being implicated for a string of war crimes in Syria, several countries in Africa, and then Ukraine.

The mercenary outfit has recruited heavily from prisons, with Mr Prigozhin – himself a former convict – explicitly stating that murderers were welcome to join.

Several prisoner fighters who were released after fighting in Ukraine have since been accused of committing violent crimes in Russia.

The rift between Wagner and the Russian army has raised alarm in Russian media.

“It is obvious that the conflict between the defence ministry and Wagner requires intervention at the highest level,” said journalist Ruslan Ostashko.