The owner of the Wagner Group is suspected of committing a number of serious criminal offenses during the current war.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers informed in absentia about the suspicion of committing war crimes the head of the Russian private army "Wagner Group" Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin told this.
According to the materials of the investigation, Prigozhin, with the support of the Russian authorities, was engaged in the recruitment, training and management of mercenaries subordinate to him, who were then used in the war against Ukraine.
"The head of this PMC is directly responsible for thousands of war crimes. He openly admits his role in waging war against Ukraine and, with the permission of the Kremlin, solves personnel issues by recruiting tens of thousands of prisoners," Kostin said.
According to the Prosecutor General, ordinary Wagner mercenaries will also be unable to avoid criminal liability for their crimes against Ukraine. Moreover, fleeing abroad will not help them, Kostin assures.
Russian oligarch with a criminal record, Yevgeny Prigozhin, created his own private army, later known as the Wagner Group, in May 2014 to fight in the Donbas war. He denied its existence for a long time, but in the middle of 2022, he admitted it and began to promote actively.
"Prosecutors have already interrogated two such fighters who are in the EU. The verification of involvement in war crimes of another member of the PMC, who is in Norway, is also ongoing. The corresponding request for investigative actions will soon be sent to our Norwegian colleagues," he said.
