Yevgeni Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner mercenary group, seems to have political ambitions. At least if his comments in a recent video pass. There he says he will run for the presidency of Ukraine next year.
He also says he expects to compete against Volodymyr Zelenskyy , the current president, and Petro Porshenko, the former president, for the job.
“If I win the elections and become president of Ukraine, everything will be fine.” Then there will be no need for bombs,” he says.
There has been speculation in recent months about whether Prigozhin plans to enter politics and possibly run against Vladimir Putin.
Anton Herashcenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior, claims that with these remarks, Prigozhenko is trying to divert attention from his political ambitions in Russia, where he dreams of coming to power and even succeeding Putin.
But Prigozhenko is of course not eligible for elections in Ukraine, and it can be considered unlikely that the Ukrainian people have any intention of having him in their country.
To run for president in Ukraine, candidates must be Ukrainian citizens and be 35 years old on election day. They must also have the right to vote and speak Ukrainian and have lived in Ukraine for the past 10 years.
