(CNN) — A convicted murderer who was released from prison in Russia to join the private military company Wagner and fight in the Ukraine has been arrested within days of returning home on suspicion of killing an elderly woman.
Ivan Rossomakhin had already been a repeat offender when he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder in 2020. He was released last year after joining forces to fight with Wagner.
The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has recruited many militiamen from prisons in Russia. In the case of a recluse like Rossomakhin, he promised him a pardon and other benefits in exchange for a contract to go to the war front.
Rossomakhin served an indeterminate season with Wagner in Ukraine (the normal contract is six months) before returning to his hometown of Novyj Burets in the Kirov region this month.
Almost immediately, according to local accounts, there were problems. He was placed under arrest for five days after making a series of threats.
His presence led to a meeting at the town hall on Monday, which was recorded by a local television channel.
A resident, Galina Sapozhnikova, said Rossomakhin was seen holding a pitchfork, an ax and a knife, threatening to kill them all.
District police chief Vadim Varankin told the meeting that Rossomakhin was a “known troublemaker” and the issue was being addressed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group.
But before that could happen, an old woman from the village was murdered. Rossomakhin was arrested on suspicion of committing the crime, but he has not yet been formally charged.
Prigozhin himself has commented on the case, saying that his company is willing to help law enforcement in relation to any of its ex-combatants.
“If a person is behaving aggressively or provocatively or if there is any risk, especially if it is with the express, they must inform us. We will send our recruiting party, carefully pick him up and send him back to the front, to the place where he needs to channel his aggression,” he said.
Prigozhin said that he would no longer recruit convicts in February. However, it appears that the prison recruitment drive continued under the Russian Defense Ministry. CNN has spoken to several fighters who said they were directly employed by the ministry.
Brutal tactics and little regard for life
Wagner is known for his ruthless tactics and for showing little regard for the lives of his own soldiers.
The private army was founded in 2014 and has been accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.
A former Wagner mercenary who escaped to Norway spoke to CNN about the brutality he witnessed among Wagner fighters in Ukraine.
“They rounded up those who didn’t want to fight and shot them in front of the newcomers,” he alleged. “They brought two prisoners who refused to go fight and shot them in front of everyone and buried them right in the trenches that the apprentices dug.”
Wagner played a key role in the Ukrainian war and raised the profile of the once shadowy Prigozhin.
Wagner’s fighters were heavily involved in the seizure of Soledar in eastern Ukraine in January, the first Russian military gains in months.
But there has also been tension between Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry, which had made conflicting claims about their roles in the fighting.
Prigozhin has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s military leadership, going so far as to blame the failure of officers to secure enough ammunition for the deaths of its fighters.
CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Victoria Butenko, Rob Picheta, Nick Paton Walsh, Daria Markina and Olga Voitovych contributed to this report.