A Russian military officer who opened fire on police officers on 16 April, killing one and wounding three others, has been detained in the Orenburg Region. The detention was reported by the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry.
According to the investigators, Private Sergei Basalaev, born in 1974, who was on the federal wanted list, opened fire at the police.
The shooting took place in the village of Akkermanovka, where the police arrived to detain the wanted man. When he saw them, he opened fire and fled. One policeman died on the spot, three were hospitalised. According to regional authorities, their condition remains serious but stable.
The Investigative Committee said Basalaev had left the military unit unauthorisedly during mobilisation. He was charged with unauthorised abandonment of the unit, attempted murder and attempted murder of law enforcement officers. The court authorised his arrest.
According to the official representative of the Interior Ministry Irina Volk, the suspect was detained on 18 April near the village of Beloshapka. During the search for the suspect, the Guberlinskie Gory preserve, where he could be hiding, was temporarily closed. Police, Rosgvardiya and aviation were involved in the search.
Under Russian law, committing crimes “during mobilisation or martial law” is an aggravating circumstance.
On the eve it became known about another murder committed by a deserter: according to the investigation, a man detained in Petrozavodsk after unauthorised abandonment of a military unit, stabbed the escort with a knife and tried to escape. He was subsequently detained. The escort, who was serving under a contract, died of his wounds.