MOSCOW — The chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, admitted on Tuesday he had created the notorious troll farm accused by Western governments of fomenting discord and interfering in elections.
After years working within the shadows, the 61-year-old ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has in current months basked within the highlight as his fighters spearhead the assault for cities in jap Ukraine.
Sanctioned by Washington and Brussels, Prigozhin has for years been accused of operating the Internet Research Agency, a infamous Saint Petersburg-based troll farm.
It has been accused of meddling in elections together with within the United States and different Western international locations.
On Tuesday, Prigozhin stated for the primary time that the Internet Research Agency was his brainchild.
“I thought it up, I created it, and I managed it for a long time,” he stated in an announcement.
“It was created to protect the Russian information space from boorish aggressive propaganda of the West’s anti-Russian talking points.”
On the eve of the US midterm vote final November, Prigozhin admitted to attempting to alter the end result of US elections.
He additionally admitted in September that he had based the Wagner group whose fighters have been on the forefront of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
Prigozhin has personally toured Russian prisons to recruit fighters, and his mercenary group has been accused of committing abuses on the battlefield.
Wagner can be more and more current in Africa, the place Western international locations say it has been deployed in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Mali. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
