Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov (R) and his son Nikolai. [Twitter]
Mon 24 Apr 2023:
The Kremlin’s spokesperson “must be dismissed” from his job, according to the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, following a scandal surrounding an interview of his son, who spent six months in the Wagner Private Military Company, Anadolu Agency reported.
“Of course, for such an unpleasant act as the service of his son in the Wagner PMC, (Kremlin spokesman) Dmitry Sergeyevich (Peskov) must be urgently dismissed from his position, because he at least violated the corporate ethics of the deep state,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a message on Telegram on Sunday.
Prigozhin said that children of members of the Russian political elite “should study at Harvard, Oxford and hold positions of directors of state enterprises, banks, or, at worst, be governors or vice-governors.”
“Therefore, Dmitry Sergeevich acted very badly, giving Nikolai his consent to serve in the Wagner PMC,” Prigozhin said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner PMC, talks about Peskov and his son. It will be unexpected for you. To be honest, this was unexpected for me too. https://t.co/UhepdXncp0 pic.twitter.com/SWjHADau2Z
— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) April 21, 2023
Prigozhin’s comments came a day after Dmitry Peskov’s son, Nikolay Peskov, gave an interview to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in which he said he joined Wagner to take part in the country’s “special military operation” in Ukraine on his own initiative, but turned to his father on how to do so.
“When I decided for myself to participate in the NWO (‘special military operation’), I did not know how to get there. Because when it all started, there was not as much information as it is now. So, yes, I had to go to my father. I asked how I can properly contact the (Wagner) PMC. And he helped me with this,” Nikolay Peskov said.
Nikolay Peskov further said he considered it “his duty” to participate in Russia’s war in Ukraine, adding that he “couldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch friends and other people” go to the front line.
Prigozhin announced on Friday that Nikolay Peskov served as an artilleryman in its ranks.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the "Wagner" PMC, said that he took 33-year-old Nikolai Peskov, the son of Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, into service under false documents.
Putin's favorite newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, even published an interview with Peskov Jr.,… pic.twitter.com/aLDW3twCHL
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 22, 2023
Nikolai Peskov did not reveal where exactly he had served in what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Prigozhin and some Russian military bloggers have been very critical of Russian generals in Ukraine, accusing them of blunders and under-equipping Wagner. Mr Prigozhin also accused military officials of not recognising his group’s sacrifices.
But last month President Putin outlawed public criticism of Wagner or the regular armed forces. The penalties for “discrediting” any part of the Russian military include prison terms of up to seven years.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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