Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said Thursday that U.S. claims that his group received arms shipments from North Korea are “nothing more than gossip and speculation,” CNN reported.

“Everyone knows that North Korea has not supplied weapons to the Russian Federation for a long time,” Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel. “And there were no more such attempts. Thus, these arms deliveries from North Korea are nothing more than gossip and speculation,” he added.

“From our side, I want to emphasize that – and I already answered this question today – we buy quite a lot of American weapons. And therefore, most likely, my lawyers will take an active part in the process of lifting the US sanctions for the supply of arms to the Wagner group,” he said.

“We consider these restrictions to be completely unfair, as the Wagner group has never violated the rules of international trade by buying American weapons,” Prigozhin said.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Kirby makes a lot of statements that are based on speculation,” Prigozhin said in response to statements by National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby.

On Thursday, Kirby said it was “quite clear to us that Wagner PMC is poised to become a powerful company that will compete with the Russian military and other Russian ministries,” and that it is recruiting detainees, including some with serious medical problems.

(source: news.ro)