'We interfered, we interfere and we will interfere': Prigozhin admitted that Russia influences the US elections

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-linked oligarch known as “Vladimir Putin’s chef,” acknowledged Russia’s interference in the U.S. election in a November 7 Telegram post. CNN.

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Prigozhin said that Russia has interfered, is interfering and will continue to interfere in the US democratic process, in response to a journalist's question about potential Russian interference in the November 8 US congressional elections.

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“I will answer you very subtly, and delicately, and I apologize, I will allow some ambiguity. Gentlemen, we have interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere, ”said Prigogine.

“Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as best we can. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” he added.

Prigozhin does not hold a position in the Russian government, but his announcement was the first admission that someone close to the Kremlin is running a high-level Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. elections.

Prigozhin is reportedly one of Putin's confidants - so close that the Russian press dubbed him the Russian president's "cook" after he began organizing events for the Kremlin.

Prigozhin subsequently won lucrative food contracts for schools and the Russian military, and by 2010 he was a Kremlin insider with a growing commercial empire.

It was not immediately clear how serious Prigogine was in his comments, which seemed to be made somewhat sarcastically. But the US has sanctioned Prigozhin for funding the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian troll farm that is accused of meddling in several recent US elections.

Prigozhin was also charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States in 2018 by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with alleged election interference.

The Kremlin has been accused of meddling in US elections since at least 2016, when Russia-linked hackers successfully hacked emails from Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. These documents were released at the end of the campaign to embarrass the Democratic candidate.

U.S. officials and prosecutors have warned of similar hacking attempts and disinformation campaigns by Russia ahead of the 2020 presidential election and the November 8 election. On November 3, private investigators said suspected Russian operatives used far-right media platforms to vilify Democratic candidates in Georgia, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Russian government officials, including Putin, have consistently denied meddling in US politics.

For years, Prigogine operated mostly in the shadows and behind the scenes. However, he has become more of a public figure in recent months, perhaps due to a shift in the balance of power within Russia as losses accumulate in Ukraine.

In September, Prigozhin admitted to creating the Wagner Group, a private mercenary group accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine, after denying any involvement in the organization for years.

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More recently, American and European officials have said that Prigozhin is trying to use the war effort to increase his influence in the Kremlin. Prigozhin reportedly told Putin directly that he believed the conflict was not being managed effectively.

The Kremlin denies that officials criticized the leadership of the war.

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