Evgueni Prigojine, the leader of the Wagner group and considered very close to the Kremlin, announced on Wednesday that he had sent a bloody mace to the European Parliament. This gesture was made in reaction to the Parliament’s decision to consider the Wagner group as a terrorist organization and to qualify Russia as a rogue state and “sponsor of terrorism”. This entirely symbolic resolution was approved by 494 votes to 58 with 48 abstentions.
In a video posted on the social network Telegram, we can see the mass, transported in a violin case. On the mace, stained with fake blood along the handle, we can read the inscription “PMC Wagner” on the top, which leaves little doubt regarding its origin.
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This was transmitted by the lawyer of the Wagner group and close collaborator of Prigozhin, Igor Yesiliev, to another intermediary. “The information package to be sent to Parliament has been handed over to a representative of Cyber Front Z”, announced the Concord company of Prigojine. Cyber Front Z, nicknamed “Prigozhin’s troll farm” is a pro-Russian blog. One of its members was commissioned to transport the mass to Europe.
A “gift” in bad taste that is not a coincidence
This announcement comes as, following the vote, the European Parliament website was the target of a cyberattack perpetrated by a group of pro-Russian hackers. In a tweet, the President of the European Parliament had declared that the latter was doing “subject to a sophisticated cyberattack” including an “group close to the Kremlin claimed responsibility.”
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The sending of a mass by the Wagner group is no accident. The object can inevitably make think of the weapon which had been used to the execution of a Russian deserter regarding ten days ago. A killing that had been openly staged by the Wagner group and in which a former member of the paramilitary group might be seen shot dead by two sledgehammers. “The traitor received the traditional Wagnerian punishment”accompanied the video titled “the hammer of revenge” and broadcast on the Telegram social network.