Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s mercenaries and one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a confident and strong leader who should not be underestimated, Reuters reports.

“Although today he is the president of the country’s enemy Russia, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and sensitive guy,” Prigozhin said in a statement published on the Vkontakte social network by the press service of his Concordia catering company.

The nickname “Putin’s cook” comes from the fact that Prigozhin’s companies provide catering services for the Kremlin.

“Don’t underestimate him,” he said in a second statement after being asked why he was praising a man Moscow has criticized, ridiculed and attacked since he won Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election.

The boss of Wagner’s mercenaries will consider the war in Ukraine as a “business project”

Political scientist Tetiana Stanova considers it interesting that Prigozhin voiced an opinion that others in the immediate circle of the Kremlin leader would not have dared to express.

“Prigogin dared. He thinks he has the right, and he thinks he won’t anger Putin,” she says.

Prigozhin has made several bold public statements in recent weeks after admitting that he founded Wagner’s mercenary group in 2014 to fight in Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Among other things, he joined Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in his sharp criticism of Moscow’s military command and Russian front-line generals.

However, Stanovaya states that Prigozhin would not want a formal role in the government apparatus of the RD state.

“I think for him [războiul din Ucraina] it’s more like a ‘business project’ that they have to ‘sell’ to Putin in order to have an even closer relationship with the Kremlin,” she says.

“This way he will avoid any real official responsibility, it is more comfortable for him to stay in this zone between state and unofficial status,” Stanova concludes.

What Putin said about Volodymyr Zelenskyi

Prigozhin’s comments about the Ukrainian president differ sharply from those of Putin himself and other high-ranking officials in Moscow.

Just a day after ordering the invasion of the neighboring country on February 24, Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to expel Zelensky, saying it would be easier for him to negotiate with the generals in Kyiv than with a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.” in the political leadership of Ukraine.

Russian state media have written numerous articles about Zelensky’s “drug addiction.”

“He says a lot of things. It depends on what he drinks or what he smokes,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview he gave.

When asked why he praised Zelensky, Prigozhin also added that “to become stronger, to win, you need to treat your opponent with respect.”

“Don’t underestimate him. Always look for flaws in yourself and see what is good and important and what you can learn from the enemy’s experience,” said mercenary commander Wagner.

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