Kremlin spokesman declines to comment on Wagner Group and calls founder Prigozhin ‘just a Russian citizen’

Despite St. Petersburg tycoon Evgeny Prigozhin’s admission last month that he played a role in creating the Wagner private military company (PMC), the Kremlin is maintaining its policy of not acknowledging the mercenary group. In a briefing on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Prigozhin “simply a Russian citizen” who continues to “contribute a great deal” to his country.

During the press call, reporters raised a statement Prigozhin made on Tuesday about St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, whom he accused of not supporting the Wagner Group. When the journalists asked Peskov about the status of the PMC, he responded, "No comment."

The Wagner Group and Evgeny Prigozhin have been linked to efforts to recruit inmates at Russian prisons to fight in the war in Ukraine. In September, a video that appeared to show Prigozhin speaking to a group of convicts at a prison in Russia’s Mari El Republic was posted online.

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