A number of news outlets are spreading this nonsense:
Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin admits interfering in US elections — and promises to do it again – Nov 7, 2022 – NYPost
Russian oligarch and Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin said Monday that he had interfered in US elections in the past — and intends to keep it up.
Prigozhin, the money-man behind Moscow’s brutal Wagner Group paramilitaries, made the admission in a statement released by his business, the Concord catering firm.
“We have interfered [in US elections], we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” read the statement posted to Russian social media platform VKontakte.
“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” the statement added, without further explanation.
The post, made one day before mid-term elections in the US, was in response to questions put to Prigozhin from Russian news outlets.
Prigozhin — colloquially known as “Putin’s Chef” due to his catering firm’s Kremlin contracts — is also thought to be the financier behind Russian internet troll farms.
The White House even remarked on it:
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the oligarch’s comments “do not tell us anything new or surprising.
“It’s well known and well documented in the public domain that entities associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin have sought to influence elections around the world, including in the United States,” she said.
“Yevgeny is a known bad actor who has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and also the European Union,” she added.
“We also know that part of Russia’s efforts include promoting narratives aimed at undermining democracy and sowing division and discord — it’s not surprising that Russia would be highlighting their attempted efforts and fabricating a story about their successes on the eve of an election,” Jean-Pierre said.
This is of course great nonsense. Prigozhin remarks did not admit anything but were pure sarcasm.
They appeared on the Telegram channel https://t.me/s/Prigozhin_hat/. That channel is not directly associated with Prigozhin himself.
This is post number 1974 on that channel (https://t.me/s/Prigozhin_hat/1974):
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A Google translate of that post results in this:
Prigozhin's cap
Request from Utro.ru news agency and response:
REQUEST:
Dear Evgeny Viktorovich, we noticed a certain discrepancy between the statements in the telegram channels "Prigozhin's Cap", "Evgeny Prigozhin in Telegram" and the group "Press Service of the Concord Company" in VKontakte.
Can you please clarify which telegram channel is the official channel of the press service, if any?ANSWER:
Evgeny Viktorovich wanted to answer this question personally:
“I found out about the existence of the telegram channels “Prigozhin’s Cap” and “Evgeny Prigozhin in Telegram” after your question. More precisely, I heard about the existence of "Prigozhin's Cap", but did not bother with the question whose it was. Therefore, I answer. The Telegram channels “Prigozhin’s Cap”, “Evgeny Prigozhin on Telegram” and the rest have nothing to do with the press service of the Concord company and have nothing to do with me. However, we do not see anything harmful in the information they convey. Moreover, many of them – thanks. But in order to maintain purity in relations with content consumers, I instructed the press service to create a telegram channel “Prigozhin’s Press Service”, in which I guarantee that all statements are published from me personally.”We publish the comment of the press service:
Link to the telegram channel "Prigozhin's Press Service":
https://t.me/s/concordgroup_official65.9K views 15:58
Prigozhin's cap clearly isn't an official outlet of Prigozhin.
The first visible post on the new Concord group Telegram channel (https://t.me/s/concordgroup_official/3) is the same as the above one but edited earlier at 15:49. It is headlined: "#897 Request from Utro.ru news agency and response:".
Now onto the post by Prigozhin's cap various news outlets reported on which is number 1978 (https://t.me/s/Prigozhin_hat/1978):
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Google translation:
Prigozhin's cap
Request from the editors of the Russia News portal and response:
REQUEST:
Hello!
Question to Evgeny Viktorovich.
Radio Liberty, citing a Bloomberg article, announced a new interference by Russia in the elections to the US Congress, which will be held on November 8. Journalists of the publication associate attempts of intervention with your name. Can you comment?ANSWER:
We publish a comment by Evgeny Viktorovich:
“I will answer you very subtly, delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain ambiguity. Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how. During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”46.0K views 08:06
This is an obviously sarcastic remark made "subtly, delicately, .. allowing a certain ambiguity". The unserious nature of the response is confirmed by its last sentence "pinpoint operation … remove both kidneys and the liver at once". That anyone would take this seriously, and sell it as 'news' only shows how much the intellectual level of the people in that business has degraded.
The same remark can be found as post number 5 on Prigozhin's new company channel (https://t.me/s/concordgroup_official/5) headlined "#899 Request from the editors of the Russia News portal and response:" It was posted at 8:04, two minutes before the Prigozhin's cap post, and has a movie citation added to it that makes it absolutely clear that Prigozhin thinks the whole issue is bare nonsense:
#899 Request from the editors of the Russia News portal and response:
…
We publish the comment of the press service:
See the story of "interference" in the American elections in the movie "16th":
https://www.ivi.ru/watch/477950www.ivi.ru
16th (2021)
Comedy about the interference of Russian hackers in the course of the American elections. In 2016, Donald Trump became President of the United States, which came as a surprise to many voters. Public dissatisfaction with the outcome of the vote gave rise to many versions of what happened, …
The two minutes long trailer of that hilarious 'election interference' comedy can be watched here.
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Its fast cut scenes are funny even when one does not understand the Russian language dialogues. I am sure that Prigozhin had a good laugh about all this and is happy about the additional PR-value it is giving to him.
