Wagner Boss Fires Verbal Shots at U.S., Says Americans Fear Mercenary Group

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, verbally attacked the United States in a story published on Monday. Speaking

to the Russian state-controlled news outlet RT, Prigozhin criticized the U.S. military, the CIA and the history of conflicts involving the U.S. since World War II. He also claimed

that the U.S. fears his organization and said that "America and Russia are sworn enemies." The Wagner Group has been a major presence in the war in Ukraine, though Prigozhin

has often publicly clashed with Russian officials for comments he's made about their leadership. More recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly once viewed

Prigozhin as a close ally, is said to be distancing himself from the mercenary leader after Prigozhin claimed Wagner deserved sole credit for Russia's battlefield success in the

Ukrainian city Soledar. Last week, the White House announced it would designate the Wagner Group a "transnational criminal organization." The announcement drew Prigozhin's

ire in his statements to RT. "The Wagner PMC has not committed any crimes," Prigozhin said. "But, unlike America's paramilitary forces, the Wagner PMC eliminates only

enemies of peace and commits no crimes." Prigozhin went on to list what he considered historical offenses made by the U.S., including the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan

in World War II, as well as its conflicts in countries such as Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.