The head of the Wagner mercenary group admitted that he is “afraid” Vladimir Putin may deploy nuclear weapons in a Russian border region that has been repeatedly raided by pro-Ukrainian rebels.
In an interview with the pro-Moscow Telegram news channel “Donbas Now,” the notoriously outspoken paramilitary leader aired his concerns about the chilling prospect of the Kremlin using tactical nuclear weapons on Russian soil.
“I’m afraid they might get the vile idea of throwing a small nuclear bomb on their own territory,” Prigozhin said, referring to the troubled Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine.
Pro-Kyiv partisan groups of Russians who have been fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces have launched a series of raids over the border into Belgorod that have infuriated Moscow.
The armed forays, coupled with Ukrainian shelling, have obliterated several towns and villages and have triggered the evacuation of thousands of Russians.
“Isn’t it why we [Russians] are retreating in the Belgorod region, allowing Ukrainian forces to advance?” Prigozhin wondered. “Because throwing [a nuclear bomb] at a foreign territory is scary, but we can throw one at our own, show everyone that we are mentally ill knockouts.”
Prigozhin described a scenario in which Kyiv’s soldiers would be stationed in some border village on Russian territory, and Moscow’s forces would blast them there with a tactical nuclear weapon.
But the Wagner chief, who has gained notoriety for launching scathing attacks at Russia’s top military leaders over their handling of the war, darkly joked that the nuclear attack might fail.
“It’s a big question whether the [nuclear weapon] would even function properly, seeing how they maintain the rest [of their equipment],” Prigozhin noted.
The threat of a nuclear attack has been hanging over Ukraine since the outbreak of the war in February 2022.
Putin has made a series of contradictory pronouncements on the subject, saying the country has a right to use all weapons in its arsenal to protect its territory, but also denying that his regime plans to deploy nuclear warheads.
Speaking at a conference in October, the Russian president said it was unnecessary for Russia to strike Ukraine with atomic weapons.
“We see no need for that,” Putin said at the time. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”
The threat of a possible nuclear deployment escalated last month, when Moscow announced it would be staging tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus.
The US believes Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons — more than any other country — which include bombs that can be carried by aircraft, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery rounds.
