Russia’s Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has given a rare and revealing interview with pro-Moscow blogger Konstantin Dolgov, fresh off the weekend declaration of victory over Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin clarified late Saturday in an audio statement that despite regular Russian forces having “retreated” from parts of Bakhmut’s north (in his words), his own Wagner fighters are still advancing.
Tensions rose this past week between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, Russia’s paramilitary group, and Russian officials when the Wagner chief threatened to pull his forces out of Bakhmut if the Russian Defense Ministry didn’t provide the organization with the necessary arms to continue the offensive. Wagner and Russian troops control 90 percent of the destroyed city.
A Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH), has joined with 6 other Democrat and Republican senators to introduce legislation titled the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act that would force the State Department to add the Wagner Group to the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.
On Thursday, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen announced that the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group is among numerous Russian entities being sanctioned for their involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The most recent round of sanctions from both the Treasury and Department of State target the individuals and organizations supporting the infrastructure of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
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