Yahoo News Biden Says U.S. Unsure Of Prigozhin’s Whereabouts: ‘I’d Be Careful What I Ate’
President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is unsure of the future of far-right mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, warning the man who led a failed rebellion against the Kremlin to be “careful” of potential poisoning.
“We’re not even sure where he is and what relationship he has” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden said of Prigozhin during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki.
Mercenaries who are part of Prigozhin’s Wagner Group have been fighting alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Prigozhin is known to have a long-standing feud with Russia’s top military leaders, and last month denounced Gen. Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for failing to provide Wagner fighters with ammunition.
On June 24, Prigozhin led an armed mutiny in which he directed his fighters into Russia to unseat Shoigu. The once-longtime Putin associate’s rebellion lasted just days before he allegedly brokered a deal with the Kremlin to be exiled to Belarus ― but the short-lived mutiny significantly weakened Putin’s power.
A Kremlin spokesman said Monday that Putin met face to face with Prigozhin and involved Wagner commanders just days after the failed mutiny. In that meeting, the Kremlin said Putin offered an “assessment” of the Wagner Group’s actions in Ukraine and “of the events of June 24.” The Russian president also “listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them options for further employment and further use in combat.”
But since the attempted mutiny, Prigozhin’s fate and whereabouts have been unknown.
Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks inside the headquarters of the Russian southern army military command center in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in this still image taken from a video released June 24, 2023.
“If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate. I’d be keeping an eye on my menu,” Biden said Thursday. “All kidding aside, who knows? I don’t know. I don’t think any of us know for sure what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia.”
While Biden acknowledged he was joking, the comments refer to the very real reputation Putin and the Russian state have for poisoning enemies.
In 2006, former Russian spy and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London after his tea was spiked with polonium, a radioactive metal. A public inquiry by the United Kingdom found that the poisoning was likely approved directly by Putin.
In 2018, three people in Salisbury, England, were injured and one person died after being exposed to Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union. One of the injured victims was former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal. Then-U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was an assassination attempt “almost certainly approved … at a senior level of the Russian state,” and authorized charges against three Russian intelligence officers believed to be responsible.
In 2020, Russian opposition leader and vocal Putin critic Alexei Navalny, survived an assassination attemptthat involved Novichok. Then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was an effort by the Russian government to “silence” Navalny. The opposition leader is currently imprisoned in Russia.
Last year, the Kremlin and senior Ukrainian officials dismissed reports that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and two Ukrainian peace negotiators were poisoned during talks in Kyiv. Because all three victims have since recovered and none were examined by forensic experts in time to detect suspected toxins, the allegations could not be confirmed.
