The White House was not surprised by the comments of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s mercenaries, who said he interfered in the US election and would continue to do so, White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said, according to Reuters.

The statement of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is also called “Putin’s cook”, was the first such admission by a person involved in attempts to influence American politics.

“These comments … tell us nothing new or surprising,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“It is well known and well documented (…) that organizations associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin tried to influence elections around the world, including in the United States.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin on Monday admitted for the first time that he tried to influence the elections in the USA, saying that he would continue to do so.

“I interfered in the elections [din Statele Unite], we continue to intervene and will continue to do so in the future. Neatly, neatly, surgically and in our own way, because we know what we have to do,” he said in the comments to VKontakte of the press service of his Concorde catering company.

The comment was published ahead of the US midterm elections in response to a request by a Russian news site to comment on allegations of funding for the 2016 US presidential election.