“Kremlin Spokesman’s Son Claims Service with the Wagner Mercenary Group in Ukraine”

The 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he served with the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine for nearly six months.

“It was my duty… I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch friends and others go there,” said Nikolai Peskov, quoted by the BBC.

Wagner is Russia’s “private military company” that has gained international notoriety for alleged war crimes and other abuses in Ukraine. It has recruited thousands of inmates from prisons after heavy losses.

The BBC has been unable to verify Nikolay Peskov’s claim that he served with Wagner, whose troops have been engaged in intense fighting for months at Bakhmut.

It is rare for a member of Russia’s elite to choose to join the group – many have gone abroad to avoid conscription into the regular army.

Nikolai Peskov is also known as Nikolai Choles and speaks fluent English after spending several years as a youth in London. He worked as a correspondent for the Russian state television RT.

Both he and his father are under US sanctions.

In an interview with the pro-Kremlin daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, he said it was his own decision to join Wagner, but he didn’t know how to do it, “so I had to turn to my father… and he helped me to “.

He says he used a fake identity card to keep his Wagner comrades from learning about his ties to the Kremlin. He does not reveal this assumed name in the interview because he may have to use it again.

Nikolay Peskov’s claim coincides with a major recruitment campaign for the new army, with Russian state advertisements urging men to do their “patriotic duty” in the conflict in Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of men fled Russia last September to avoid conscription after President Vladimir Putin announced “partial mobilization”.

Nikolai Peskov has not revealed exactly where he served in what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

However, in a comment to the Russian media, Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin gave more details.

After joining the group with false documents, he said, Peskov’s son underwent a three-week training course.

“After that, when he went to Luhansk, it was necessary to expand the combined artillery division, and he was sent to join the crew of the Hurricane Volley Fire,” Prigozhin said, adding that he “showed courage and heroism, just like everyone else.” .

According to Prigozhin, Dmitry Peskov asked him “to take Nikolai as an ordinary gunner.”

Nikolay Peskov claimed he received a medal for bravery this year after “my whole team did a feat… We had an interesting outing – I can’t say more than that”.

Last September, he became the target of a YouTube Live prank in which he appeared to be reluctant to join the military.

Journalist Dmitry Nizovtsev, an associate of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, impersonates a military officer in a telephone conversation with Nikolai Peskov. Speaking in an aggressive tone, Nizovtsev asked him why he did not report to a Moscow call center.

Nikolai replied nervously, reminding Nizovtsev that “I am Peskov

“I’m going to take this issue to another level,” he said. “Basically, I need to know what’s going on and what my rights are.”

Prigogine and some Russian military bloggers have been very critical of the Russian generals in Ukraine, accusing them of mistakes and insufficient Wagner equipment. Prigogine also accused military officials of not acknowledging the victims of his group.

But last month, President Putin banned public criticism of Wagner or the regular armed forces. Penalties for “discrediting” part of the Russian military include up to seven years in prison.