Prigozhin denied the purchase of satellite images from China for the Wagner PMCs The founder of the Wagner PMCs, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that his private military company has almost two dozen radar and optical satellites at its disposal, so there is no need to buy satellite images.
So he commented on the recent statement by US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink that the Chinese company Spacety Co provided satellite images to the Wagner PMCs.
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The founder of the Wagner PMCs, entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that a private military company has about 20 satellites at its disposal.
"We have no need to purchase satellite images. The Wagner PMCs has had almost two dozen satellites for a year and a half, some of which are radar, and the rest are optical," Prigozhin said in a statement published in the Telegram channel of his press service.
According to the businessman, the US State Department "failed a little bit in time" when it said that a private military company was acquiring satellite images from China.
"We are closely monitoring all points of the world, including the US State Department," he concluded.
The day before, Reuters reported, citing the words of US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, that the Chinese satellite company Spacety Co "provided satellite images of the Russian PMCs Wagner."
Kritenbrink clarified that the PRC company was included in the US trade blacklist in February for such activities.
On February 19, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in an interview with NBC, accused China of supporting Russia "at the level of rhetoric and politics" and providing "some non-lethal" military assistance. According to the Secretary of State, which he shared with CBS, Beijing is also considering the possibility of supplying Russia with weapons.
He recalled that at a meeting with the head of the office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi warned the interlocutor about "serious consequences" in relations with Washington in the case of such deliveries.
Own planes
Since the beginning of the military special operation, reports have also repeatedly appeared in the media that the Wagner PMCs has its own aircraft.
In particular, RIA Novosti reported that on the night of December 2, 2022, combat missions near the village of Kleshcheyevka in the DPR were carried out by the crew of a Su-24M front-line bomber from the Wagner group air wing. The aircraft was operated by commander Alexander Antonov and navigator Vladimir Nikishin. They were ordered to attack the enemy, who tried to knock out the Wagner assault detachments from the recently occupied positions.
However, the APU shot down the plane from MANPADS. The pilots realized that they would not be able to carry the bombs to the target, and sent the plane into a cluster of enemy armored vehicles. The commander and navigator were killed.
On February 15, Prigozhin reported that the wreckage of the Su-24M was found and removed from the battlefield.
"The remains of our plane, pilots Antonov and Nikishin, were taken out at Kleshcheyevka. The guys heroically fulfilled their task - they worked out, fell on enemy territory, ramming a column of enemy equipment. The guys, despite the difficult situation, managed to bring this board to the fights," the agency quotes him as saying.
Attempt to legalize PMCs
On the eve of the head of the faction "Fair Russia - For the Truth" Sergei Mironov said that the government rejected the bill of his party "On private military and military security activities", which proposed to legalize the activities of the PMCs.
According to Mironov, the authors of the response to the initiative "did not present clear arguments," and their arguments "do not stand up to criticism." In particular, the parliamentarian was outraged that the government referred to the contradiction of the document of the fifth part of the 13th article of the Constitution of Russia, according to which, among other things, "it is prohibited to create and operate public associations whose goals or actions are aimed at forcibly changing the foundations of the constitutional system and violating the integrity" of Russia, undermining its security and "creating armed formations".
"A couple of minutes at the computer will be enough to read this article and understand that it has nothing to do with PMCs. There we are talking about organizations that threaten the integrity of the country and the security of the state. To point this out in relation to those who today, without sparing their lives, protect the integrity and security of Russia is some kind of unprecedented cynicism on the part of our officials," his press center quoted Mironov as saying.
He is sure that "at the highest levels of government, many are opposed to the legalization of PMCs," and the "uncertain status" of the Wagner group "opens up space for various bureaucratic tricks."
The members of the "Fair Russia" sent their bill to the government for conclusion in March 2022. The document proposed to legislate that PMCs can be created only in the form of LLC. Private military companies could be allowed to provide "military and military security work and services", for example, participating in peacekeeping operations, engaged in "suppression of international terrorist activities" and protect foreign individuals, but only outside of Russia.
At the same time, PMCs would have to obtain a license for such activities from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which would also determine the places of their permanent deployment, issue a permit for operations and the movement of employees and equipment.
Maria Shustrova
