Amidst mobilisation in Russia, "Putin's chef" admits he is the one behind Wagner Group

OLENA ROSHCHINA — MONDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2022, 14:08

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as "Putin's chef", has admitted for the first time that he founded the Wagner paramilitary formation on 1 May 2014 in order to seize territories of Ukraine.

Source: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s answer to a question asked by the editors of Bloknot [a Russian media outlet that refers to the war in Ukraine as a "special operation"], which was posted on VKontakte [Russian social media] by the press service of Prigozhin's company, Concord

Details: The journalists asked why Prigozhin had stopped denying his involvement in the private military company Wagner. The businessman gave his version of events.

Quote from Prigozhin: "In 2014, when the genocide of the Russian population of Donbas began [Prigozhin is spouting Kremlin propaganda here – ed.], when Russia jumped on the last train and managed to block the arrival of the Ukrainian army in Crimea, I, like many other businessmen, travelled to the training grounds where the Cossacks were gathering, and tried to spend money on getting a group together that would go and protect the ‘Russians’.

But I very quickly realised that half of these ‘Cossacks’ and other paramilitary comrades were fraudsters, and the other half were people who were taking the money, hiring volunteers, and sending them naked and barefoot to certain death.

Then I flew to one of the training grounds and did it myself. I cleaned the old weapons myself, I sorted out the bulletproof vests myself, and I found specialists who could help me do this. From that moment, on 1 May 2014, a group of patriots was born that later acquired the name of Wagner PMC."

Details: According to Prigozhin, it was solely down to Wagner mercenaries that Luhansk airport and many other territories were captured and "the fate of the LPR and the DPR [the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics] changed."

Prigozhin stated that for the last eight years, journalists have been poking around "in Wagner’s dirty linen" trying to find something negative and have attributed "all non-existent sins and flaws" to the mercenaries, but he had always defended their right to "protect their country’s interests".

Prigozhin claims that Wagner militants have "protected the Syrian people, other peoples in Arab countries, and impoverished Africans and Latin Americans", and have "become one of the pillars" of Russia.

Prigozhin considers people who had killed for a reward, heroes and patriots.

Quote from Prigozhin: "I have long evaded the blows of many adversaries with one main goal – not to undermine these guys, who are the foundation of Russian patriotism.

And I have won on this issue in numerous courts, some of them abroad, because in any case there should always be a place for sport, and matches must be won on an opponent's field."

Details: Concord did not respond, however, to another editor's query about whether it is true that Russians who have received a summons for mobilisation can serve as volunteers for Wagner instead: "The Concord press service will refrain from any further comments. We have no information on this."

Yevgeny Prigozhin recently said that his son Pavel was a member of the Wagner Group.

Concord later posted the businessman's answer regarding his son's participation in the war in Ukraine: "Yes, he is participating in the SMO ["special military operation" – ed.], but I don't see the need to reveal the details of what tasks he’s carrying out. Come to Donbas and ask him."

Previously: Yevgeny Prigozhin has previously denied his involvement with Wagner and has sued journalists who linked him with this paramilitary group.

Prigozhin has also been involved in recruiting prisoners from penal colonies in the Russian Federation for the war in Ukraine. In September, a video appeared showing him apparently suggesting to convicts in a penal colony in Mari El that they should join Wagner. [The Republic of Mari El is a federal subject of Russia and an administrative part of the Volga Federal District.] Prigozhin answered his critics with the words that it would be "either PMCs and prisoners or your children" going to war.

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