Russia has admitted that the head of the Wagner mercenary group is at risk of being assassinated, the Daily Mail writes. Evgenii Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s chef”, after providing catering services to the Kremlin, leads the Kremlin leader’s private army.
The 50,000 fighters of the Wagner Group have been accused of a number of war crimes, and their successes in Ukraine have led to a power struggle between the oligarch and Putin. Prigozhin said yesterday that he had been informed that Volodymyr Zelensky and CIA Director William Burns had discussed the possibility of his assassination.
Asked at a press conference today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Chief Wagner is in danger. He said: “This is more a question for the special services. But in terms of assassination attempts, Ukraine is involved in both assassination attempts and an absolutely monstrous crime. Let’s remember the attempts at assassinations that took place.
“Let’s remember the killing of Daria Dughina and so on… The involvement of the Kyiv regime in such assassination attempts is obvious, so there is such a danger for our citizens.”
The rumor reportedly started with Vladimir Rogov, a puppet leader from Ukraine’s Zaporozhye region. He said, referring to an apparent meeting between the Ukrainian president and the CIA director: “One of the requests that Zelensky made was to kill the head of Wagner, Mr. Prigozhin.”
Chief Wagner then joked that killing him was a “very good idea”, reveling in his status. But some believe an even greater threat to his safety lies more in Moscow than in Ukraine.
Prigozhin recently criticized Putin’s generals whom he called a “bunch of clowns”. In addition, he boasted that his mercenary army is superior to the Russian Armed Forces.
