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Vladimir Putin's chef sends bloodied sledgehammer to European Union: Report
Russia-Ukraine War: The report cited a video posted on one of Wagner Group's Telegram channels.
Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries have sent a "bloodied" sledgehammer in a violin case to the European Parliament, a report said. UK's Telegraph reported that the sledgehammer was sent to the European Parliament as members started proceedings to label the Wagner Group as terrorists.
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Sledgehammers have become an unofficial symbol of the Kremlin-linked group because its fighters use them to kill during overseas missions.
The report cited a video posted on one of Wagner Group's Telegram channels in which a suited lawyer working for the Group carries a violin case into a bare room and places it on a table.
The lawyer then lifts the lid of the violin case, showing off a highly polished sledgehammer whose head has been engraved with Wagner's logo and the handle has been dabbed with red paint to depict blood.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier and founder of Wagner Group also known as Putin's chef, said that he was sending the sledgehammer to the European Parliament as “information”. Yevgeny Prigozhin runs a catering company and was photographed serving Kremlin guests.
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The European Parliament this week declared Russia a terrorist state for invading Ukraine. The report said that the European Parliament had not yet received the sledgehammer and said that they suspected that it may be a stunt.
Wagner Group has earned a reputation for distasteful stunts, including posting videos of its fighters posing with musical instruments in bombed-out towns in Donbas, east Ukraine.
