Commander of the Russian Volunteer Cops Denis Nikitin was present at the prisoner of war exchange, where every Russian soldier was offered the option to join the RDK. Among them, was Vladislav Izmailov who refused to return to Russia and expressed a desire to join the ranks of RDK.

Izmailov was not from the Russian military but was instead a PMC Wagner member who was freed from a Samara prison to serve in the PMC and was later captured in November last year.

Evgeniy Prigozhin reacted by confirming the identity of the Russian and promised to "find and kill" him:

"Actually, Vladislav Izmailov arrived to the PMC Wagner from a Samara colony, and in November he was captured. Vladislav Izmailov is a traitor, and I'm sure he will receive a worthy punishment according to all traditions of PMC Wagner. I hope we will find and kill him in a fair fight."

It appears no one else from the Russian group of P.O.W.s wished to stay or join the RDK showing that Izmailov likely has a good reason to do so.

@liveukraine_media