Wagner Group mercenary suspected of murdering senior while on leave in Russia

A convict pardoned after joining Wagner Group and serving in Ukraine was detained within a week of his return to Russia’s Kirov region, where he was taking his leave. According to the local media, he is suspected of having murdered an elderly woman.

The 28-year-old Ivan Rossomakhin was convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony in 2020, writes Mediazona. While on leave from Wagner Group, which he had joined as a mercenary, he returned to his home village of Novy Burets on March 21. On March 29, a local retiree’s dead body was discovered with multiple stabbed wounds. According to local sources, Rossomakhin has confessed the murder.

Days before the tragedy, on March 27, the local TV channel Vyatskiye Polyany reported that, since the fighter’s return, the entire community was living in fear. Locals complained about Rossomakhin walking around drunk, brandishing an axe and a pitchfork, and shouting murder threats. The reportage included security camera footage of Rossomakhin smashing car windows with his axe.

On March 22, a local police operative had detained Rossomakhin, later charging him with disorderly conduct. In the wake of the murder, the law enforcement officials are assuring residents that Rossomakhin will soon have to go back to the frontline.