The Daily Beast has received a bizarre audio recording from none other than Yevgeny Prigozhin, the notorious head of Russia’s Wagner Group.
In the audio clip, sent in response to a comment request for a story related to the private mercenary group, Prigozhin makes it quite clear that he has no interest in hearing from The Daily Beast’s Allison Quinn.
“Dear Allison, baby, you are asking too many questions today,” he said in the audio recording on Thursday. “I am busy searching my garden plot for the corpse of your colleague, and you are asking me about some new events.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Prigozhin’s ominous statement about corpse-hunting in his garden is likely a reference to an earlier message the mercenary boss provided to The Daily Beast, when asked about the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on espionage charges in Russia on Thursday morning. According to some local reports, the journalist was reporting on the Wagner Group before he was detained in Yekaterinburg.
When asked about Gershkovich’s arrest, Prigozhin said in a statement to The Daily Beast that he would be willing to “check the torture cellar in my house to see if he’s there.”
“At first glance, I didn’t see him among the American journalists I keep there by the dozens. I can, if you want, also look at the fresh graves of foreign journalists on my house plot. But if I’m not mistaken, we didn’t bury him there either,” he said.
It appears the mercenary boss was not happy to receive a second comment request from The Daily Beast on the same day—for a story about a Wagner recruit who has been accused of murder after being set free by the paramilitary group.
“I have a big request,” he said in the audio message addressed to Quinn. “Do not bother me anymore."
