i just got lost
The Rostov-on-Don Leninsky Court reported that Pavel Nikolin was detained by the judge and held until February 6, 2023, according to RIA Novosti.
Before the hearing, reporters questioned the man about crossing the Ukraine-Russia border.
“I don’t know, I don’t even know what I’m doing,” he answered.
Subsequently, media asked why he left the military special operations area.
“I didn’t leave, I just fell behind the group — that’s all,” the accused explained, adding that he had simply lost his way.
When questioned about firing a weapon, he said, “I thought of dill. They were not in uniform and no documents were provided. They started following me.”
Asked whether he had served in Ukraine as part of the Wagner private military company, the man initially said “yes,” but then seemed to reconsider and paused, “Maybe I won’t answer that question at all?”
At the court session, Nikolin stated that he did not resist arrest.
“When I saw the badges, I realized they belonged to me by their shape and I surrendered. Special forces showed no resistance since the badges were evident. As for the police, I am very sorry this happened.”
The investigator noted that the suspect had “confessed” on the merits of the case.
Shooting with a submachine gun
Novoshakhtinsk sits in western Rostov Region, near the Lugansk People’s Republic border, by the Maly Nesvetay River.
On the afternoon of December 6, a man dressed in camouflage opened fire on police with a submachine gun. He fled after injuring one officer. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under articles related to the threat to a life of a law enforcement officer and illegal arms trafficking.
“This is a red-haired man wearing a ski mask. He appears about 40 years old, with a stubble and a burn on his right wrist. He stands about 182 cm tall and carries a Kalashnikov machine gun,” reported a Telegram channel named Mash, describing the attacker’s appearance.
The assailant was detained the following day in the village of Kiselevo, Krasnosulinsky district, roughly 6.5 kilometers from the border. The UK stated he has a prior record for theft and robbery, and that the shooter, a man from another region aged around 38, used a Kalashnikov by the time of arrest.
According to another Telegram channel, a man with a Kalashnikov was found at an abandoned pig farm and resisted during capture.
Service at PMC “Wagner”
Updates from the Baza channel later identified the attacker who opened fire as a fighter linked to Wagner PMC.
“Pavel Nikolin was reported to have spent time in the Ufa colony for theft and robbery. From there, he was recruited to Wagner. On November 24, he decided not to pursue combat and fled,” the report stated.
Telegram channel Mash described the shooter as a deserter who had come to Russia from Ukraine, a detail corroborated by a law enforcement source to TASS.
On December 7, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of PMC Wagner, stated that information about Nikolin’s service location “is not publicly available and is classified for operational reasons.”
“If Nikolin is indeed a Wagner fighter and has committed a crime, then there should be a deeper examination of how such incidents, which may be deemed sensitive, reached journalists and how this person crossed the border of the Russian Federation,” Prigozhin said via the Concord company’s VKontakte page.
He added that PMC Wagner’s task force would conduct an inquiry and will disclose results if public release is demanded.