A close friend of Putin promises to "ruin" Navalny

Yevgeny Prigojine, a controversial close friend of President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday promised to " ruin ", unless he " gives up the ghost ", the opponent Alexeï Navalny, who is in a coma in Berlin following an alleged poisoning.

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The businessman, nicknamed " Putin's boss " because his catering company Concord worked for the Kremlin, is suspected of being linked to a " troll factory " that Washington accuses of electoral interference and the opaque group of mercenaries Wagner.

Yevgeny Prigojine now intends to make Alexei Navalny and his ally Lioubov Sobol pay 88 million rubles (nearly a million euros at the current rate) in damages following the publication of one of their investigations, a Concord press service indicated Tuesday evening in a statement. Alexeï Navalny and his team target the corruption of Russian elites in their investigations, and garner millions of views on social networks.

"Unscrupulous people"

" I intend to ruin this group of unscrupulous people ", affirmed Evguéni Prigojine according to this release, affirming that a company of school canteens, which concluded a contract with Concord, would have suffered a damage following a video of Alexeï Navalny incriminating his activity. He would have compensated this company and intends to reimburse himself to the opponents. " If Navalny returns his soul to God, I have no intention of persecuting him in this world (...) If he lives, he will have to answer with all the rigor of Russian law ", he said. he adds.

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In March, Yevgeny Prigojine demanded 50 billion in compensation from the United States after being sanctioned by Washington for his role in Moscow's interference in the 2016 American presidential election. Yevgeny Prigojine is also accused - which he denies - d 'be linked to the Wagner group, whose men are said to serve in Syria, Libya and several African countries.

Alexeï Navalny is hospitalized in Berlin. His German doctors said they had established that he had " traces of poisoning ".