Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said on Friday that a “former general” in the US Navy was part of this private army, whose recruits are particularly fighting in Ukraine.
In response to 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 provide exact information about them.
“I have a good opinion of the Finns on the battlefield. They are fighting within a British battalion (part of Wagner) commanded by an American citizen, a former general of the Marine Corps,” Mr. Prigogine was quoted as saying by his company Concord’s news service.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s Chef” because of his catering group’s contracts with the Kremlin, has a reputation for becoming a millionaire thanks to the public contracts he won. It is subject to sanctions by the European Union and the United States.
In September, he revealed for the first time that he had set up Wagner in 2014 to fight in Ukraine and acknowledged the existence of a mercenary organization in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
Wagner has been suspected for years of playing a role in advancing the Kremlin’s ambitions, including in Ukraine, where the paramilitary group’s fighters were on the front lines during the offensive launched in February.
In early November, Wagner opened its first headquarters in Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg.
