Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin admits he founded the paramilitary company in 2014 to fight in Ukraine’s Donbas
It was an open secret, but the suspicions of Western counterintelligence services have finally been confirmed. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to the Kremlin, better known as “Putin’s cook,” admitted Monday that in 2014 he founded the Wagner Group, a battalion of Russian mercenaries that looks like something out of a war movie starring Sylvester Stallone. . This paramilitary company, which the magnate describes as a “pillar of our country”, does not hesitate to deploy to any country in the world, including Latin America, to defend his country’s interests.
Prigozhin, 61, known for his shaved head and piercing look, earned his nickname as one of the purveyors of Kremlin cuisine. How did you get this important contract that gave you a boost in the business world to become a successful businessman? He was very fortunate to own Putin’s favorite restaurant in St. Petersburg. But this ex-con is interested in things other than gastronomy. Like computers.
Sanctioned by the EU and the US, a measure that will block all assets in the international financial system, Yevgeny Prigozhin is accused of creating a digital infrastructure from which destabilization campaigns in the West have been carried out by spreading fake news on the internet . His greatest success was the “troll factory” involved in attempts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, in which Republican Donald Trump won.
But for some time now, various media in his country have also placed him at the head of Wagner’s kitchen, a shadow army in direct service of Vladimir Putin. In fact, he was directly accused of financing it. Now, in a social media post from his catering company Concord, the Russian tycoon has finally admitted that he founded this paramilitary group eight years ago to fight in Ukraine’s Donbas and support pro-Russian separatists. “At the time, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born who took the name of the Wagner Battalion Tactical Group,” Putin’s ‘cook’ said in a statement.
“I cleaned the old weapons myself, repaired the bulletproof vests and found specialists who could help me with this,” he explains. “These guys, these heroes, who defend the Syrian people, other peoples of Arab countries, the dispossessed Africans and Latin Americans, have become a mainstay of our homeland,” adds this businessman proudly, who was received in December 2016 in the Kremlin. pose with Putin in several photos at a ceremony honoring the “heroes” of Syria. Many specialists in Russian politics believe that what Prigozhin really wants with his shadow job is a permanent position in Putin’s government.
The confession of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had not previously revealed his relationship with Wagner to protect his soldiers, comes days after the release of a video in which the businessman recruits potential candidates in a Russian prison to have them fight Ukraine for six months. months with the promise of being released. In fact, most of Wagner, which takes its name from the moniker used by one of its founders, is made up of ex-convicts, although it also includes experienced instructors and talented war advisers, most of them far-right ultranationalists.
Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic or Mali are some of the countries where this group operates, which are accused of doing dirty work for the Kremlin by carrying out security tasks and selective attacks. In fact, Wagner’s operations have been plagued by scandals, diplomatic tensions, and accusations of crimes of everything from rape to civilian murder. This group can torture for hours and even decapitate their victims. In 2018, while investigating Wagner’s activities, three Russian journalists were shot dead under unclear circumstances.
The Ukrainian army achieved great propaganda success by destroying with American missiles in the city of Popasna, in Luhansk, the secret base of the mercenaries, who stood out in decisive battles of the invasion, such as the capture of Azov or Mariupol. Quite a success when you consider that the Kremlin had previously denied the participation of this “unofficial” army in Ukraine, which remains shrouded in a halo of mystery despite Yevgeny Prigozhin’s confession.
Source: La Verdad
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