Washington Post deleted part of Zelenskyy interview about Prigozhin's contacts with Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, then reinstated it

The Washington Post (WP) removed part of an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, published on the newspaper's website on 13 May, in which the President of Ukraine is asked about contact between Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company, with Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence. When asked about the authenticity of the information, Prigozhin ridiculed the WP, saying that he "is still with Budanov in Africa".

Update: The WP later reinstated this part of the interview.

Source: BBC Russian Service; Prigozhin's press service

Details: According to the BBC, the WP removed part of the current version of the interview with Zelenskyy containing questions about the leak of secret US documents that journalists say refer to Prigozhin's ties to Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The previous version of the article has been preserved in online archives.

Here are the deleted parts of the conversation between the WP journalists and the Ukrainian president.

WP: "The documents indicate that HUR, your intelligence directorate, has back-channel contact with Yevgeniy Prigozhin that you were aware of, including meeting with Yevgeniy Prigozhin and HUR officers. Is that true?"

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "This is a matter of [military] intelligence. Do you want me to be convicted of state treason? And so, it’s very interesting, if someone is saying that you have documents, or if someone from our government is speaking about the activities of our intelligence, I would also like to ask you a question: With which sources from Ukraine do you have contact? Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country. Which Ukrainians are you talking to?"

The journalists assure Zelenskyy that no Ukrainian officials have spoken to them about this and they are relying solely on the leaked documents.

WP: "I can read you what information exactly there is about Prigozhin and the HUR. On February 13, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, informed you about a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova with two former Wagner associates. Budanov informed you that he viewed the Russian scheme as a way to incriminate Prigozhin because "we have dealings" with him. You instructed Budanov to inform Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and Budanov told you that the HUR had informed Prigozhin that he would be labeled a traitor who has been working with Ukraine. The document also says that Budanov expected the Russians to use details of Prigozhin’s secret talks with the HUR and meetings with HUR officers in Africa."

Zelenskyy: "Listen, to be honest, well, you just read something, you say something. I just don’t understand where you get it, whom you talk to and so on. You talk about how I met with Budanov. This suggests that you — how do you put it? It looks like you have people who have some records or you have some evidence or you have something, because that’s what it looks like. You are again doing, I apologize, what you were doing before. You are releasing some sort of information that does not help our state to attack and does not help us to defend our state. So, I don’t quite understand what you are talking about. I don’t quite understand your goal. Is your goal to help Russia? I mean, that means we have different goals. If I’m not sitting at the same table with them, I don’t quite understand what we’re talking about. Each of these inquiries simply demotivates Ukraine, demotivates certain partners to help Ukraine. Well, one way or another, I just don’t understand your goal."

The WP journalists continue to insist that no one told them this information personally and that they obtained it from the secret documents. The Ukrainian president continues to say that the information was passed on to them.

Zelenskyy: "They [the documents - ed.] were not on the Internet, they were part of something. We, the normal society, couldn’t access all of this. We couldn’t. And then, I think, information began to come out that we would partially publish everything else. I think it’s yours — or your editorial board, or whoever. I don’t want to offend anyone, I don’t know. That’s why you are releasing this information one by one today. You publish information about a counteroffensive in Ukraine, about this or that. I told you that I believe that this is, how to put it? — someone heard something somewhere, someone published something somewhere, but the information is compiled, and it is different, and it definitely does not work in Ukraine’s favor."

More details: Asked to comment on the reports that he met with Ukrainian Defence Intelligence officers, Prigozhin said "Budanov and I are still in Africa".

"Of course I can confirm this information. We have nothing to hide from foreign intelligence services. Budanov and I are still in Africa. And as for WP and the deleted excerpt, I think it happened because they didn't buy tickets in time, and I'm afraid that if someone finds out that the WP is still in Africa, they’ll be overcharged for business class. So they just want to save money, as usual," he said. 

Update at 08:55: A source at the Washington Post explained this by saying that the outlet had been preparing a piece about Prigozhin and his contacts with Ukrainian intelligence and had posted the full transcript of the conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in error before the investigation was released.

Now, following the publication of the article about Prigozhin, the website has posted the full transcript of Zelenskyy's interview again.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!