The leader and co-founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is known to have close ties to President Vladimir Putin, has acknowledged for the first time that he owns the Internet Research Agency -- a so-called "troll factory" in St. Petersburg specialized in creating fake social-media accounts and spreading disinformation and propaganda.
In February 2018, the Justice Department indicted the Internet Research Agency and two other companies controlled by Prigozhin -- Concord Management and Concord Catering -- as well as Prigozhin himself and 15 other Russian individuals for alleged fraud "for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016."
In a written response to a group of Western journalists' questions, Prigozhin said on February 14 that "I planned it, I created it, and I used to direct it for a long time," adding that the agency was created "to defend Russian information space from the blatantly aggressive propaganda of anti-Russia slogans of [the] West."
Prigozhin also acknowledged that he provided premises for another troll factory, Cyberfront Z, that was created right after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Answering a question about his possibly being the owner of the Lobaye Invest company that operates gold and diamond mines in the Central African Republic, Prigozhin said the company was liquidated three years ago, but added that it was led by Dmitry Syty and had been involved in geological research in Africa, not mining.
Prigozhin noted that Syty, who is officially the head of the Russian House culture center in the Central African Republic, had spent some time in hospital in December after a parcel he received by mail exploded.
Prigozhin called on the Western journalists to offer apologies to Syty for "the terrorist activities of the Western countries."
Prigozhin is known for his vocal condemnation of the West over sanctions imposed on Russia over its full-scale aggression against Ukraine and for accusing the United States and European Union of supporting what he called the "neo-Nazi" government of Ukraine.