The 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush, who held office in 2001-2009, said that he was surprised when he learned that he personally met with a businessman, the founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin. This is reported by Business Insider.
Bush told about this at the conference “Yalta European strategy”. The former US President was asked if he was shocked by the news of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash in the Tver region.
“No, what shocks me is that the other day I saw a picture from the G8 summit in St. Petersburg where he was the guy who served me food,” Bush said.
He called Prigozhin the “chef” of Russian President Vladimir Putin and noted that he was present in the photo taken in 2006 in St. Petersburg.
Bush added that he did not recall meeting Prigozhin in person. “All I know is that I am a survivor,” Bush added.
Yevgeny Prigozhin served George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush as a waiter during a dinner with Vladimir Putin on July 14, 2006. Prigozhin apparently served Bush a drink.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin with George and Laura Bush in Villa Lindstrem, 2006. pic.twitter.com/Iwu1GzYiMj
— Laocoon of Troy (@LaocoonofTroy) August 11, 2023
REPUTATION FOR RUTHLESSNESS
Prigozhin fostered Wagner’s reputation for ruthlessness, and the mercenaries have been accused by Western countries and U.N. experts of human rights abuses throughout Africa, including in Central African Republic, Libya and Mali.
A 2017 online video showed a group of armed people, reportedly Wagner contractors, torturing a Syrian and beating him to death with a sledgehammer before mutilating and burning his body.