2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS
Russian oligarch admits to interfering in US elections
Yevgeny Prigozhin promises that his nation will continue meddling in the United States’ democratic processes, “carefully, precisely and surgically.”
The Russian oligarch and founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, admitted on Monday, the eve of the crucial midterms, that he had interfered in some of the elections in the United States, although he has not specified which ones. He also made it abundantly clear that his intention is continue to do so.
Russian interfering in US elections
“Gentlemen, we interfere, we are interfering and we will interfere [...],” was the claim from Prigozhin via a Concord press release. “Carefully, precisely, surgically, in our own way; we know how to do it.”
Prigozhin, known as ‘Putin’s chef’, owns Concord, a catering company that organizes these types of events for the Kremlin. But he is also the founder of the Wagner group, a paramilitary team that was created in 2014 to fight in Ukraine’s Donbas region and now diversifies its activities towards espionage, propaganda and disinformation. Although the Wagner group is related to the Russian government, the Kremlin has always denied having any connection with them.
Prigozhin claims to have had his hand in some of the democratic processes in the US one day before the US legislative elections which are being held on Tuesday. Back in 2016, Washington accused him of having spread fake news during that year’s presidential campaign and of having financed the Internet Research Agency, a company that the United States accused of having created false profiles on the internet to affect the political system and the 2016 elections.
Prigozhin’s list and his influences are extensive and diffuse. He has operated in conflicts in countries such as Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and Mali, before intervening in Ukraine. The Wagner paramilitaries are accused of doing dirty work for the Kremlin, including the rape and murder of civilians.
Prigozhin got his start in the business world — and in his relations with the Kremlin — organizing catering dinners for the Russian government, hence the nickname “Putin’s chef.” He hid having founded the paramilitary group to protect his soldiers, but after admitting it, he inaugurated on Monday the first Wagner headquarters openly in Saint Petersburg.