“The private military company Wagner helps and will help the people of the border areas [da Ucrânia] to get training, build facilities, train people and organize militias,” said Prigozhin, quoted by the press service of his company Concord.
According to him, these activities have already started in the Russian regions of Belgorod and Kursk, which have been regularly hit in recent months by shots that Moscow attributed to the Ukrainian army.
The aim, according to Prigozhin, is to build “fortified facilities and training centers for militias in border regions”. “Whoever wants peace prepares for war. It is always necessary to be prepared to defend your country,” he added.
Last week, Wagner’s head had already mentioned this project and assured that he will finance it without the help of the Russian state.
Since 2014, Wagner group mercenaries have been accused of serving the interests of the Vladimir Putin regime in numerous conflict zones stretching from Syria to Ukraine, across Africa and South America.
In recent months, the group has been actively operating on the Ukrainian front in support of the Russian army. He was also accused of traveling to several Russian prisons and recruiting prisoners to fight in exchange for a reduced sentence.
In September, Evgueni Prigozhin, 61, acknowledged founding this paramilitary organization after years of denial. This week he also admitted to promoting electoral meddling operations in the United States.
It has since promoted its activities in Russia without concealment, a sign of a strengthening of its power since the Kremlin offensive in Ukraine and the beginning of a military mobilization in the country in the face of Moscow’s withdrawals from several front lines.
In October, Evgueni Prigozhin opened the current “headquarters” of the Wagner group, a glass tower in St. Petersburg.
The complex was officially opened in early November, but Prigozhin said St Petersburg authorities had refused to grant him an operating license.
Faced with this refusal, Prigozhin on Thursday accused Saint Petersburg Governor Alexandre Beglov of supporting the interests of “Ukrainian nationalists who are killing Russians”. The two men have been at odds for a long time.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 has already led to the flight of more than 13 million people — more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million to European countries — according to the latest data of the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 6,490 civilian deaths and 9,972 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are far below the actual ones.
Source: DN
