Russia's Prigozhin admits links to what U.S. says was election-meddling
troll farm
Send a link to a friend
[February 14, 2023]
(Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's Wagner
mercenary group, said on Tuesday that he founded and financed and the
Internet Research Agency, a company Washington says is a "troll farm"
which meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, spent years
operating on behalf of the Kremlin in the shadows, but has emerged in
recent months as one of the most high profile figures connected with
Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He has previously admitted interfering in U.S. elections, but his
statement on Tuesday appears to go further than before in outlining his
specific links to the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency
(IRA).
"I was never just the financier of the Internet Research Agency. I
thought it up, I created it, I managed it for a long time," Prigozhin
said in a post shared on social media by the press service of his
Concord catering group.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/14/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_021323.jpg)
"It was created to protect the Russian information space from the West's
boorish and aggressive anti-Russian propaganda," Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin was first sanctioned by the United States over his links to
the Internet Research Agency in 2018 and charged with conspiracy to
defraud the United States.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his inquiry into Russia’s
role in the 2016 U.S. election said that Internet Research Agency sought
to sow discord in the United States through "information warfare."
It sought to sway the 2016 election in favour of Trump, Mueller’s report
said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/021423PIX/news_u8.jpg)
The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary
group Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen inside a cockpit of a military Su-24
bomber plane over an unidentified location, in the course of
Russia-Ukraine conflict, in this image taken from handout footage
released February 6, 2023. Press service of "Concord"/Handout via
REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
"The campaign evolved from a generalized program designed in 2014
and 2015 to undermine the U.S. electoral system, to a
targeted operation that by early 2016 favored candidate Trump and
disparaged candidate [Hillary] Clinton," the report said.
"IRA employees also traveled to the United States on
intelligence-gathering missions."
Prigozhin, who spent the final decade of the Soviet Union in prison
for robbery and fraud, was for years an associate of Putin. His
catering group swept up government contracts, earning him the
nickname of "Putin's Chef", while he deployed Wagner mercenaries to
fight alongside Russian servicemen in Syria and to conflicts across
Africa to advance Russia's geopolitical interests.
After years of denials, he last year admitted his links to Wagner
and said he had interfered in U.S. elections.
Having rapidly built his public profile both in Russia and abroad
since Russia invaded Ukraine, analysts say the Kremlin has moved to
clip his wings more recently, concerned about the outspoken
businessman's growing stature and high-profile criticism of the
defence ministry.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/14/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png) |