Prigozhin, head of the private military corporation Wagner, joked that he could use American newspapers as a broker to buy F-35 fighters and many other weapons.
"I ask you to contact Wagner so that it can buy American-made sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers. Oh, and I have one more request: F-35 fighters," Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of a Russian private military corporation, said in a voice message sent to the US newspaper Politico today.
Prigozhin's message came after Politico asked him to comment on the newspaper's investigation that the Russian company that makes the Orsis T-5000 sniper rifle had purchased ammunition from an American partner. The Orsis T-5000 is a sniper rifle model used by many Wagner members.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin at a meeting in the Kremlin, Russia, July 4, 2017. Photo: AFP
Prigozhin denied the report, saying Wagner had obtained “large quantities of NATO-standard ammunition abandoned by the Ukrainian army.” He also mentioned Viktor Bout, a Russian gunman who was released by the US late last year in exchange for American basketball player Brittney Greiner.
“I am sure you know Viktor Bout,” he said. “I have spoken to Viktor, he is willing to handle any shipments. But I assume you are an American party to this.”
“So thank you for your questions and I hope you will answer my request,” Prigozhin told Politico. “Please answer about the F-35 deal in a private message.”
At the end of the voice message, he said he would give a Politico reporter an Orsis T-5000 as a gift if the "deal" was carried out. Politico said this was a joke from the boss Wagner.
The Orsis T-5000 "Tochnost" sniper rifle, manufactured by the Moscow-based Promtekhnologiya corporation, is advertised as having an effective range of more than 2,000 meters thanks to the use of modern ammunition such as the .300 Winchester Magnum and .338 Lapua Magnum.
In a recent Telegram video, a Wagner gunman introduced the Orsis T-5000, saying it used Western Lapua Magnum bullets. Politico investigated and obtained records showing that Promtekhnologiya and another Russian company, Tetis, had purchased hundreds of thousands of bullets made by the American corporation Hornady.
Orsis T-5000 sniper rifle during an international competition. Photo: Vitaly Kuzmin
Promtekhnologiya denied the allegations, saying it had no connection with Hornady and was capable of producing its own ammunition. The company added that its Orsis rifles and ammunition were intended for “hunting and sporting purposes” and were freely available on the civilian market.
CEO Steve Hornady also denied selling ammunition to Russia, insisting the company “has not exported anything to Russia since 2014.” He said he had contacted US authorities following Politico’s investigation.
Duc Trung (According to Politico )
Source link
Comment (0)