MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2023) Yevgeny Prigozhin, the controversial head of the Wagner Group private military company, said on Thursday that he recognized a "court victory" of opposition journalist Alexey Venediktov (recognized as a foreign media agent in Russia) since the "silence mode" about the group was no longer needed.
On Thursday, Venediktov's lawyers said that a Russian court would review a libel lawsuit filed by Prigozhin against the ex-editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy after the latter named the businessman as the Wagner's leader. Venediktov lost the case, though Prigozhin later admitted to establishing the Wagner Group in 2014.
"There was a time that I had to sue Venediktov and others since there was a conspiratorial necessity to say that the Wagner Group did not exist... Today, when the silence mode regarding the Wagner Group has completed its mission, I happily grant this court victory to Mr. Venediktov," Prigozhin said in a statement published on social media.
The Wagner Group has been participating in Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and played an important role in taking control of Soledar, an important fortification in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
The capture of Soledar has opened the way to the bridgehead of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which can become a turning point in wrestling control over the entire territory of DPR from Ukraine, according to DPR acting head Denis Pushilin.
