“We buy a lot of US weapons”
Wagner boss denies arms purchase in North Korea
12/23/2022 12:27 p.m
The USA is convinced: The Wagner Group is dependent on North Korean weapons for the fight in Ukraine. “Nothing but gossip,” says mercenary chief Prigozhin. He cites a very different source for his private army’s equipment.
According to their boss and financier, the Russian mercenary group Wagner does not buy any weapons in North Korea. “Regrettably, Mr. Kirby made some statements based on far-fetched speculation,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said, according to the Russian news agency TASS the US allegations on the Telegram channel of his company Concord. “Everyone knows that North Korea has not been supplying weapons to Russia for a long time. No such thing has been attempted. The rumors are nothing but gossip.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that the Wagner Group had received weapons from North Korea, according to US information. He thus confirmed a media report citing high-ranking American government circles that North Korea had supplied “missiles for use by the infantry” to the mercenary force last month.
According to TASS, Prigozhin instead cites a different source of equipment for his private army. In the past, Wagner had acquired “quite a lot” of weapons in the United States, the mercenary boss explains in the Telegram post. “We have never violated an international trade agreement.” Prigozhin therefore considers the sanctions and trade restrictions imposed after the Russian attack on Ukraine to be “absolutely unfair”. His lawyers would work to have the sanctions lifted.
Will deliveries be expanded?
It was reported for the first time in September that Russia was buying ammunition from North Korea, citing US intelligence services. A US official said at the time that they were suspected to be short-range missiles and artillery shells. The new partnership showed the sanctions were working and Moscow was desperate, Western military observers said.
According to the most recent report, according to the US government’s assessment, the amount of armaments has not yet been sufficient to decisively influence the course of the war in Ukraine. “However, we are concerned about North Korea’s plans to deliver more war material to Wagner,” a high-ranking government official was quoted as saying. Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed this assessment on Thursday.
50,000 men in Donetsk
The information shows that the influence of the Wagner troops in the Ukraine and of Prigozhin in the Russian power apparatus is also increasing. Accordingly, the mercenary army is now deployed with up to 50,000 men at the front. The majority of the soldiers – around 40,000 – are said to be prison recruits who were recruited in the past few weeks against the prospect of being released from prison. They should therefore help to conquer the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which has been fought over for months.
“For months, the Russian military has relied on Wagner to direct fighting in parts of the Donbass,” the American insider is quoted as saying in the latest report. In certain cases, Russian military are under the command of Wagner. “It is evident that Wagner is becoming a rival center of power for the Russian military and other Russian ministries.” To finance the operation, Prigozhin spends more than $100 million every month.