Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked oligarch known as “Vladimir Putin’s chef,” appeared to admit to Russian interference in the US election in a Telegram post on Monday.   

  Prigozhin said Russia has interfered, is interfering and will continue to interfere in the US democratic process, responding to a reporter’s question about Russia’s possible meddling in the US congressional elections on Tuesday.   

  “I will answer you very tactfully, and delicately and I apologize, I will allow a certain vagueness.  Gentlemen, we have interfered, we are intervening and we will intervene,” Prigozhin said.   

  “Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how.  During our precise operations, we will remove both the kidneys and the liver at the same time,” he added.   

  Prigozhin has no position in the Russian government, but his statement appeared 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 most trusted confidantes – so close that the Russian press dubbed him the Russian President’s “chef” after he began catering events for the Kremlin.  Prigozhin then won lucrative catering contracts for schools and Russia’s armed forces and by 2010 was a Kremlin insider with a growing business empire.   

  It was not immediately clear how serious Prigozhin was in his comments, which appeared to turn somewhat sarcastic.  But the US has sanctioned Prigozhin for funding the Internet Research Agency, a notorious Russian troll farm accused of meddling in several recent US elections.  Prigozhin was also charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States in 2018 by special counsel Robert Mueller in connection with alleged election meddling.   

  The Kremlin has been accused of meddling in US elections since at least 2016, when Russian-linked hackers successfully hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.  These documents were released during the campaign to embarrass the Democratic candidate.   

  US officials and prosecutors have warned of similar hacking attempts and disinformation campaigns by Russia ahead of the 2020 presidential election and Tuesday’s showdown.  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.   

  Russian government officials, including Putin, have repeatedly denied meddling in American politics.   

  Prigozhin for years operated mostly in the shadows and behind the scenes.  In recent months, however, he has developed a more public persona, possibly due to the shifting balance of power in Russia as losses in Ukraine piled up.   

  In September, Prigozhin admitted to founding the Wagner Group – a private mercenary group accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine – after years of denying involvement with the group.   

  More recently, US and European officials have alleged that Prigozhin is attempting to use the faltering war effort to ride a horse for increased influence in the Kremlin.  Prigozhin reportedly confronted Putin directly about his belief that the conflict is being mismanaged.   

  The Kremlin has denied that officials criticized its handling of the war.