Former US President George W. Bush this week recalled having dinner served by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during a G8 summit in Russia, quipping that he “survived” the meal, The Hill reported.
The comments were made at the Yalta European Strategy annual summit which took place in Kyiv. Bush was asked if it was shocking Prigozhin died in a plane crash last month and replied, “No,” before pointing to his encounter with the Russian mercenary more than 15 years ago.
“What was shocking to me was I saw a picture the other day of a G8 summit in St. Petersburg where [Prigozhin] was the guy serving me the food,” Bush recalled. “He was [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] chef and he was in the picture, and somebody said, ‘Well you remember him?’ And I said, ‘No, all I know is I survived.’”
Bush attended the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July 2006, where he had a bilateral meeting with Putin.
Prigozhin died in a plane crash in August, two months after he led a failed mutiny against Russian army chiefs.
US and Western officials have said that a preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the crash. Putin has denied having any connection to Prigozhin’s death.