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(CNN) --
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch known as "Vladimir Putin's chef," appeared to admit Russian meddling in the US election in a Telegram post on Monday.
Prigozhin said that Russia has interfered, is interfering and will continue to interfere in the democratic process in the United States, answering a journalist's question about possible Russian interference in the US congressional elections on Tuesday.
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"I will answer you very subtly and delicately, and I apologize, I will allow some ambiguity. Gentlemen, we have interfered, interfered and will interfere," Prigozhin said.
"Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do it. During our specific operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at the same time," he added.
Prigozhin has no position in the Russian government.
However, his comment appears to be the first admission of a high-level Russian campaign to interfere in the US election by someone close to the Kremlin.
Prigozhin is reportedly one of Putin's confidants, to the point that he was dubbed the president's "chef" by the Russian press after he began organizing events for the Kremlin.
Prigozhin subsequently secured lucrative catering contracts for schools and the Russian military, and by 2010 he was a Kremlin figure with a growing business empire.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin attends a meeting with investors at the 2nd Eastern Economic Forum on September 2, 2016, in Vladivostok, Russia.
(Credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
The seriousness of Prigozhin's comments, which seemed to include some sarcasm, was not immediately clear.
But the United States has sanctioned Prigozhin for funding the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian troll farm that is accused of meddling in several recent US elections.
Special counsel Robert Mueller also charged Prigozhin with conspiring to defraud the United States in 2018 in connection with the alleged election meddling.
The Kremlin has been accused of interfering in US elections since at least 2016, when Russia-linked
hackers
gained access to emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Those documents were published during the final stretch of the campaign to embarrass the Democratic candidate.
US officials and prosecutors have warned of
hacking
attempts and similar disinformation campaigns by Russia ahead of the 2020 presidential election and Tuesday's race.
Private investigators said Thursday that suspected Russian agents have used far-right media platforms to smear Democratic candidates in Georgia, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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Russian government officials, including Putin, have consistently denied interfering in US politics.
For years, Prigozhin has worked mainly in the shadows and behind the scenes.
However, in recent months he has developed a more public image, possibly due to shifts in the balance of power within Russia as losses in Ukraine mounted.
In September, Prigozhin admitted to founding the Wagner Group, a private group of mercenaries accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine, after denying involvement in the organization for years.
More recently, US and European officials have signaled that Prigozhin is trying to use the faltering war effort to gain influence in the Kremlin.
Prigozhin reportedly confronted Putin directly about his belief that the conflict is being mishandled.
The Kremlin has denied that officials have criticized the handling of the war.
CNN's Joshua Berlinger, Sebastian Shukla, Tim Lister, Edward-Isaac Dovere, Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.
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