LONDON (Reuters) – Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigojine on Monday publicly admitted for the first time to founding the Wagner Group in 2014, despite consistently denying any links to the private paramilitary company.
The group, made up of veterans of the Russian armed forces, is or has been active in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, among other countries.
The press service of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s catering company, Concord, published its statements on the VKontakte social network in response to a request from a Russian news site as to why it had stopped denying its links with 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, May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which was later called the Wagner Battalion,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
“I am proud to have been able to defend their right to protect the interests of their country,” he added.
Concord confirmed to Reuters that the statement was authentic.
Yevgueni Prigojine, nicknamed “Putin’s cook” because of his company’s catering contracts in the Kremlin, is facing sanctions from the United States and the European Union for his involvement in Wagner.
Americans and Europeans also accuse him of funding a “troll farm” known as the Internet Research Agency which Washington says tried to influence the US election.
Yevgeny Prigozhin has in the past sued media outlets, including the Bellingcat site, the Russian news site Meduza and the now closed Moscow radio station Echo, for discussing his ties to Wagner.
This paramilitary company was created after the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the start of Russian support for the Donbass separatists in eastern Ukraine.
(Reuters reporting; French version Federica Mileo)