Head of Wagner group says top Kremlin official ‘be dismissed’ due to son’s presence in its ranks

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – The head of the Wagner paramilitary group said that the Kremlin’s spokesman “must be dismissed” from his position, amid a controversy over an interview of his son who served in the group for six months.

“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.

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.