Wagner warlord Prigozhin denies shock claim he offered to collaborate with Ukraine against Russian army
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has mocked explosive claims that he offered Ukraine intelligence to target Russian forces.
In a voice note published on Monday morning, the private army leader simulated a phone call with Ukrainian intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov. “Hi Kirill, why don’t you take Crimea?” he sarcastically offered.
The note followed claims in the Washington Post that the Wagner warlord had offered Ukrainian agents a deal that would have seen Ukraine withdraw its forces from the eastern city of Bakhmut in exchange for information about weaknesses in Russian army defensive lines.
Mr Prigozhin advised enemy agents to target the Crimean border where Russian forces were vulnerable, the Post reported, citing US intelligence documents that leaked on gamer forum Discord last month.
Other documents from the leak have been confirmed as authentic, leading to the arrest of alleged leaker Jack Teixeira, a member of the US Air National Guard.
US and Ukrainian officials confirmed the existence of conversations between the Wagner leader and Ukrainian agents, the newspaper reported, but said no deal was agreed, with Mr Prigozhin seen as untrustworthy.
The explosive claims followed an interview with President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Ukraine’s leader refused to comment on persistent rumours of contact between his intelligence services and the mercenary chief.
Mr Prigozhin’s increasingly frequent and vitriolic attacks on Russian army leaders have fuelled rumours of a growing rift within Russia’s invasion force.
In one recent video filmed in Bakhmut, the former catering tycoon denounced Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and his deputy, Valery Gerasimov, as “scum” in front of the bodies of Wagner fighters that he said had died due to a lack of ammunition from the Russian army.
Wagner fighters have been trying to capture the city in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine for more than seven months in one of the fiercest battles of the war. Mr Prigozhin recently claimed his forces control 95 per cent of Bakhmut but accused Russian army soldiers of abandoning posts around the city and allowing Ukraine to retake territory.
In response to a question on his Telegram channel on Monday about who he thought was responsible for the collaboration claim, Mr Prigozhin appeared to take aim at the military establishment once again.
“They stole for years the budgets that were required for the defence and the greatness of the country…and so they try to smear everything around them with dirt,” he said. “Well, they will not be able to help themselves because in any case the people will demand that they hang on the gallows on Red Square.”
Despite the enmity between Wagner and the Russian army chiefs, Russian sources were deeply sceptical of the alleged plot.
“While Prigozhin is an obvious psychopath, he is not a complete moron to enter into direct contacts with the enemy,” said Russian army veteran and military blogger Igor Girkin. “Most likely this is a plant by Ukrainian intelligence to provoke further conflict between Prigozhin and Shoigu.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the Post of publishing false information.
