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By Isabel van Brugen
News Reporter
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A Russian man who recently returned from the front line in Ukraine after fighting under the Wagner Group was beaten, shot, and hospitalized in Russia's Rostov region on Sunday, according to local media reports.
The man, identified by local news outlet 161.ru as 28-year-old Vyacheslav K., was reportedly shot in the city of Bataysk in the region, which sits near Russia's borders with Ukraine. Media reports said he was hospitalized in serious condition.
The paramilitary outfit, the Wagner Group, played a crucial role for months in Russia's efforts to seize the industrial city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region. The group, which provides fighters for hire, ceased operations in the war-torn country after its late chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led an uprising against the Kremlin's top brass on June 24.
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Vyacheslav had reportedly served in Africa several times with the Wagner Group and had more recently been stationed in Ukraine before his return to Russia.
His relatives told the Russian Telegram Channel "Caution, news" that an unidentified man fired at least 12 bullets at him after a fight at a local park, and one bullet hit his head.
Eyewitnesses told the channel that during the conflict, Vyacheslav was "insulted" for participating in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, announced on his Telegram channel that a criminal case had been opened over an "incident" involving a participant in what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine. The governor didn't identify who the participant was.
The regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that a case was opened under the article on hooliganism.
Police are reportedly looking for the gunman who fled the scene.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry via email for comment.
The Kremlin said on August 27 that genetic tests confirmed Wagner Group chief Prigozhin was one of 10 people killed when an aircraft he owned that had been flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia's Tver region on August 23.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, although some unconfirmed reports suggest the jet was downed by Russian air defenses, while others claim there was an explosion onboard.
Ukraine has denied responsibility, while the Kremlin said speculation that Prigozhin, 62, had been killed on Russian President Vladimir Putin's orders was an "absolute lie."
Prigozhin was laid to rest in a private burial in St. Petersburg on August 30.
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