The founder of the notorious Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries on Friday claimed a former U.S. Marine Corps general is in its ranks commanding a “British battalion.” Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the bold assertion in response to questions from the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat about Finnish fighters working for Wagner. According to the press service for Prigozhin’s Concord company, he said there were around 20 Finns in the group. “As a rule, these are highly qualified specialists, very ideological and motivated,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying. “I have a very good opinion about the Finns on the battlefield. They are fighting in a British battalion (as part of Wagner PMC), whose commander is a US citizen, a former general of the Marine Corps.”