Russian TV accuses Wagner boss of “going crazy” over money

the state television Russia accused this Sunday the head of the Wagner paramilitary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin-who starred in a failed rebellion last month– of having gone mad after receiving millions of public money.

“Prigozhin went crazy because of the large amounts of money“, he claimed Dmitri Kisiliovone of the main faces of the Kremlin media apparatus, in his weekly program.

“The feeling of believing that everything was allowed began a long time ago, from the operations (of Wagner) in Syria and in Africa”, he said, stating that this feeling was “reaffirmed” after the capture of the Ukrainian towns of Soledar and Bakhmut by Prigozhin’s mercenaries.

Kissiliov added that Prigozhin “believed that could oppose at the same time the Russian Defense Ministry, the state and the president himself”.

The presenter said, without providing evidence, that Wagner received 858 billion rubles ($9.6 billion) of public money.

President Vladimir Putin admitted this week, for the first time, that the Russian authorities financed the paramilitary group with more than 86 billion rubles.

For its part, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that agents of the Federal Security Service raided the headquarters of the Wagner Group in St. Petersburg in search of evidence against Prigozhin.

The group said on Telegram on Saturday that it was relocating but would continue to operate under a “new format”.

For Kisiliov, “one of the biggest factors” of the Wagner group coup is the Russian Defense Ministry’s refusal to extend the contracts signed with the Concord food company, which also belongs to Prigozhin.

The rebellion of fighters from the Wagner group on June 23 shook power in Russia, in full offensive in Ukraine.

For several hours, Wagner’s troops occupied a Russian army barracks in the city of Rostov and advanced hundreds of kilometers towards the capital Moscow.

The mutiny ended after 24 hours with an agreement for Prigozhin to leave the country and go to Belarus.