The head of the private military company Wagner said these interventions were carried out “with care and precision”.
A pro-Kremlin businessman, Yevgeny Prigoyine, admitted Monday to “interfering” in the US election, on the eve of a key midterm election in the United States that Moscow has accused of interference for years. “We got involved, we do and we will continue to do so. Meticulous, precise, surgical, in a way that is unique to us,” Prigojine was quoted as saying in a social media post from his company Concord.
The comments were in response to a question about allegations of Russian interference in the midterm elections being held in the United States on Tuesday, an election that has been closely watched in Moscow in connection with the crisis between them and Washington since their offensive began in Of Ukraine. Prigoyine, the subject of US and European sanctions, has been accused for several years of interfering in American elections, particularly during the 2016 presidential election.
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In particular, he is accused of creating a “troll farm”, fake profiles run on social networks to try to influence voters, for example by denigrating candidates or passing on false information. The once-discreet businessman is increasingly asserting himself as a public figure in Russia, multiplying appearances in support of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
In late September, Prigoyine notably acknowledged having created the Wagner paramilitary group in 2014 to fight in Ukraine, and acknowledged its presence particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
This paramilitary group has been suspected for years of carrying out the Kremlin’s grassroots work in various operational areas in the shadows, something Moscow and Prigoyine have always denied. Prigoyine, who was said to be close to Vladimir Putin, was for a time one of the suppliers of the Kremlin’s kitchens, earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef”.
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