The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Friday that a “former general” from the US Marine Corps was part of this private army whose recruits are fighting privately in Ukraine.
Answering a question from the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, the Russian businessman replied: “There are not many Finnish citizens in Wagner PMC, about 20 people. For obvious reasons, I cannot give exact information about them.
“I have a very good opinion of the Finns on the battlefield. They are fighting inside a British battalion (part of Wagner) commanded by an American citizen, an ex-Marine general.”
Dubbed “Putin’s Chef” because of his catering group’s contracts with the Kremlin, Yevgeny Prigogine is known to have become a billionaire thanks to the public contracts he received. It is subject to sanctions from the European Union and the United States.
In September, he revealed for the first time that he had founded the Wagner Company in 2014 to fight in Ukraine and acknowledged the existence of a mercenary organization in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
For years, Wagner has been suspected of playing a role in furthering the Kremlin’s ambitions, including in Ukraine where fighters from the paramilitary group were on the front line during the offensive that began in February.
At the beginning of November, Wagner opened its first headquarters in Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second city.
