Yevgeny Prigozhin confirms his connection to Wagner Group for the first time

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has confirmed to have founded the private military company (PMC) Wagner in May 2014, reports press service of company Concord.

“In 2014, <...> I, like many other businessmen, went to training grounds <...> to recruit a group that would go defend Russians [in Donbass]. But I quickly realised that half of these “Cossacks” and other paramilitary fellows are conmen. Half of the people that took the money hired volunteers and sent them [unequipped] to their death. So I flew to one of the training grounds and got down to business myself. <...> That day, 1 May 2014, the patriotic group that would later be called Battalion Tactical Group Wagner was born,” the message reads.

Prigozhin said that PMC Wagner’s fighters “defended the Syrian people, people of other Arab countries, marginalised Africans and Latin Americans”. According to Prigozhin, he did not admit to his involvement with the group for a long time so he would not “betray these boys who are the basis of Russian patriotism”.

Back in August, media outlet Verstka together with foundation Russia Behind Bars reported that PMC Wagner representatives visited at least 17 penal colonies in 10 regions of Russia and recruited more than a thousand convicts for the war in Ukraine. The human rights defenders of the foundation reported that the first recruitments had occurred back in spring. That was when, according to convicts and their relatives, PMC Wagner representatives visited colonies in which ex-law enforcement agents were imprisoned. Starting from 26 July, dozens of messages about the PMC’s “recruiters” having visited colonies of standard, strict, and special regimes started coming in.