Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin acknowledged yesterday that he had founded the Wagner Group private military company in 2014, the first public confirmation of his link to the mercenary group close to the Kremlin.
The controversial Wagner Group, made up of veterans of the armed forces, has operated in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine, among others.
The press service of the Prigozhin-owned catering company Concord published his comments on the VKontakte social network yesterday in response to a request by a Russian news portal as to why he had stopped denying his ties to Wagner. “I myself cleaned the old weapons, fixed the bulletproof vests and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which was later renamed the Wagner Battalion,” Prigozhin said. “I am proud that I was able to defend your right to protect the interests of your country,” he said.
Prigozhin, known as Putin’s chef for his company’s catering contracts in the Kremlin and for his close relationship with the Russian president, has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for his role in Wagner. They also accuse him of financing a troll farm that Washington says tried to influence the US election.
Prigozhin has previously sued outlets including Bellingcat, the Russian website Meduza and the Echo of Moscow radio station for reporting on his links to Wagner.
The Wagner Group was founded after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and began to provide support to pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region.
