"We
have already said that, de-facto, such a group (Wagner) does not
exist," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked about
the report, which cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying
that U.S. intelligence thinks Wagner plans such a transfer.
"All of these musings are as a rule based on nothing and have no
foundation," Peskov said when asked about the report.
"There are emergency channels of communication between the
(Russian and U.S.) militaries, and if there are real concerns
about something, they (the Americans) can always convey them to
our military."
In its report, The Journal said Wagner plans to supply the
Pantsir-S1 system, known by NATO as the SA-22, which uses
anti-aircraft missiles and air-defense guns to intercept
aircraft.
Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been
brought firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny by
its former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in June, did not reply to
a request for comment from Reuters.
Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly said that there is no
legal basis for Wagner under the law, which bans mercenary
groups inside Russia, though in late September Putin was shown
meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the group.
One unidentified U.S. official quoted by the Journal said that
Washington had not confirmed that the air defense system had
been sent. But U.S. officials are monitoring discussions
involving Wagner and Hezbollah, the Journal said.
The Journal said that the Pantsir system would be provided to
Hezbollah via Syria, where Russia propped up President Bashar
al-Assad by entering the civil war there in 2015.
The future of Wagner has been unclear since the June mutiny and
the death of Prigozhin in an unexplained plane crash in August.
Asked about unverified Russian reports that Prigozhin's
25-year-old son, Pavel, had become the leader of Wagner, Peskov
said: "This is not a question for us - this is not our topic and
we do not have any information on this."
(Reporting by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn and Mark
Potter)
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