If I were Prigozhin, I would not fire his food taster, Putin is apostle of payback – CIA Director
CIA Director William Burns believes Russian President Vladimir Putin may still get even with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin for the mutiny he organised.
Source: CNN, citing Burns at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday
Burns called Russian President Putin "the ultimate apostle of payback" and said he would be "surprised if Prigozhin escaped further retribution."
Quote: "If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster," Burns said, suggesting that the Wagner leader could be killed, for example, by poisoning [Prigozhin previously served as Putin's chef, so the Russian dictator was his "food taster" – ed.]
He also said he believed Prigozhin was now in Belarus, as seen in a recent video.
"He’s moved around a bit… I think he’s been in Minsk lately. I’m not sure he has any plans to retire in the suburbs of Minsk, but he spent time in Russia as well," Burns said.
Background:
- Belarus is currently hosting Wagner group mercenaries, with Minsk claiming they are training the Belarusian territorial defence troops. They were exiled to Belarus after Prigozhin ended his armed rebellion last month.
- UK Defence Intelligence believes that, after a period of uncertainty in Russia, an agreement on the future of the Wagner Private Military Company has started to emerge in recent days.
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