Russia's Yevgeny Prigozhin admits owning Wagner mercenary force
Source: Al Jazeera
Russia’s Yevgeny Prigozhin admits owning Wagner mercenary force
Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time says he is ‘proud’ of founding Wagner Group staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces.
26 Sep 2022
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has acknowledged he founded the Wagner Group, a private military company in 2014, the first public confirmation after he previously denied ownership and sued journalists for reporting it.
The Wagner Group, staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, among other countries.
The press service of Prigozhin’s Concord catering firm posted his admission on the social network VKontakte in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site on why he stopped denying his links to Wagner.
“I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion,” Prigozhin said, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I am proud that I was able to defend their right to protect the interests of their country.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/26/russias-prigozhin
= new reply since forum marked as read
