The chief of the Wagner Group, a private paramilitary organization that since the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war has been among the Kremlin’s most useful tools, has leveled a direct threat against French President Emmanuel Macron following a move by the French parliament to designate the group a terrorist organization.
Yevgeny Prigozhin issued the bellicose threat against the French head of state on Wednesday, March 10th, one day after the French National Assembly unanimously passed a non-binding but highly symbolic resolution asking France and the EU to designate the Wagner Group a terrorist entity, claiming that his paramilitary outfit would rip Macron’s teeth out.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Benjamin Haddad, a member of the National Assembly for Macron’s Renaissance (RE) party, slammed the Wagner group and explained the reasoning behind the move to label the organization a terrorist outfit, saying, “They are not just mercenaries, there is a will to kill civilians for political gain, to destabilize institutions.”
Upon catching wind of the vote, Prigozhin, himself placed on the EU sanctions list in April of 2022, claimed: “[Wagner] can pull out rotten teeth from those bad mouths with pliers,” adding: “We can pull out Macron’s teeth and, generally, everyone’s teeth who spill pathogenic filth [about Wagner].”
Prigozhin then went on to claim that Wagner PMC was saving people in Central Africa—where the Russian paramilitary organization continues to seriously challenge France’s presence in the region—from French soldiers, whom he claimed “simply mocked them.”
Despite being known mainly for the key role it has played in the Russo-Ukrainian War, especially in the nine-month-long battle for the city of Bakhmut, which has come to a grinding stalemate, Wagner has reportedly carried out operations in Syria, Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Venezuela, Mali, and Mozambique.
The French National Assembly’s move to designate Wagner PMC as a terrorist group comes as the United Kingdom is poised to do the same, according to a report published Wednesday, May 10th, by The Times, which cites a government source that said the blacklisting of the group was “imminent” and likely to be enacted in the next few weeks.
It is worth noting that the Wagner boss’ not-so-subtle threat against Macron isn’t the first he has made against top European officials. In November of 2022, after some MEPs called for this group to be placed on the EU’s terrorist list, Prigozhin sent a sledgehammer smeared with fake blood to the European Parliament.
