In the evening of June 24 in Volgograd, security forces detained political scientist Mikhail Serenko, he is a witness in the case against Wagner PMC. V1.RU writes about this with reference to Serenko himself.
The man's house was searched. “I was interrogated as a witness in the PMC Wagner case. I said that I don’t know any of this company, I only know the father of one of the fighters, my grandfather is already 70 years old. Investigators — well done, competent guys. They interrogated me, explained everything and released me. My girls, of course, were very scared, crying, ”Serenko told reporters.
Earlier, the political scientist's relatives told Bloknot Volgograd that on the evening of June 24, six armed men and an investigator broke into their apartment. “They just burst on the door, without ringing. They took away all the equipment, except for our personal mobile phones and two old tablets. The worst thing is that he [Serenko] was not even allowed to call a lawyer, asking for legally guaranteed protection. They didn’t give us such an opportunity either,” Serenko’s wife told the details of the search. According to her, the investigator mentioned that the visit of the security forces was connected with the case of the rebellion against the Wagner PMC.
On the evening of June 23, the owner of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian Ministry of Defense of a missile attack on the mercenaries' rear camps. After that, the “council of commanders of the PMC Wagner”, according to him, decided to stop “the evil that the military leadership of the country bears,” Prigozhin’s subordinates headed towards Moscow and promised to seize military facilities.
Later, the FSB of Russia opened a criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner PMC fighters subordinate to him about an armed rebellion (Article 297 of the Criminal Code). As the Prosecutor General's Office emphasized at the time, the case was opened «legally and reasonably.» On the morning of June 24, Vladimir Putin addressed the Russians — in it he directly called the actions of the Wagnerites «treason» and promised that they would be punished.
Prigozhin's rebellion lasted about a day, Mediazona followed what was happening in a separate story. During this time, the Wagnerites, without noticeable resistance, captured military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, marched on Moscow and did not reach the capital for about 200 km. On the way of their columns, the tracks were hastily dug up, the security forces were alerted, the entrances to the cities were blocked, in several regions — including Moscow — they introduced the WHO.
In the evening of June 24, it became known that the Kremlin, through the mediation of Alexander Lukashenko, agreed with Prigozhin: the militants would return to the camps, and in return they would not be prosecuted, the criminal case would be dropped, and Prigozhin himself would «leave» to Belarus. After that, the Wagner PMC fighters left the captured positions.
The Baza Telegram channel writes that during interrogation, Serenko asked the investigator why the case against the Wagner PMC about the rebellion continues to be investigated, despite the truce between Prigozhin and the Russians. authorities, to which the political scientist was told that there were no instructions to close the case.
Earlier, according to Novosti Volgograd, Serenko worked in the Volgograd media, was a deputy of the city duma and head of the administration of the Traktorozavodsky district of Volgograd. A few years ago, he became the founder of the Freedom Island Internet publication, which is associated with the telegram channel of the same name.
Updated at 14:20. Added information from Baza telegram channel.