Wagner Chief Calls US Claims North Korea Supplying Arms To His Mercenary Group 'Gossip'

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2022) Head of Wagner Group private military company Yevgeny Prigozhin said that claims by White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby that North Korea was supplying the group with weapons were gossip and speculation.

Kirby said on Thursday that North Korea allegedly delivered missiles to Russia in November, specifically to be used by Wagner Group.

"Unfortunately, Kirby makes quite a number of statements based on speculation. Everyone knows that North Korea has not been supplying any weapons to Russia for a long time. And no such attempt has ever been made. Therefore, the supply of weapons from North Korea is nothing but gossip and speculation," Prigozhin said late Thursday, as quoted by his other company, Concord, on social media.

The businessman also noted that the military company purchases "sufficient amounts of US weapons," and his lawyers will soon be actively involved in the process of lifting US sanctions on the weapons supply to Wagner Group.

"We consider these restrictions absolutely unfair, since Wagner has never violated international trade rules when purchasing American weapons," Prigozhin added.

In September, the North Korean Defense Ministry denied reports alleging it supplied ammunition to Russia, stating that Pyongyang did not supply and does not have plans to supply weapons or ammunition to Russia, as the United States claims. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the issues, also called the information fake.

On Wednesday, the US Commerce Department designated Wagner Group a military end user and imposed export restrictions on the entity.