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Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said on Monday that his son had fought in Ukraine, highlighting the uneven participation of Moscow’s elite in a war effort that has so far cost the lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.
Mr. Peskov’s remarks came after Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of Russia’s private military company Wagner, said on Saturday that the spokesman’s son had been an artilleryman with a mercenary group for six months. The Kremlin spokesman’s son, Nikolai Peskov, described the alleged service to Komsomolskaya Pravda, a pro-government newspaper, in an article published the next day.
On Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin’s longest-serving spokesman was asked about his 33-year-old son at a daily news conference.
“It’s true, they are involved in a special military operation,” Mr. Peskov told reporters, using the government’s euphemism for the war in Ukraine. He declined to provide further details.
Neither account could be independently verified, and it was impossible to determine whether Mr. Prigozhin was representing a rare example of a wealthy young Russian military serviceman or attempting a public relations stunt to infiltrate Kremlin insiders.
Mr. Prigozhin, a social media provocateur, often criticizes the country’s elite for weak patriotic sentiments. In March, Mr. Prigozhin claimed that the son-in-law of the Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, had joined Wagner. It turns out that the fighter is not related to the defense minister, who is often the target of Mr. Prigozhin’s criticism.
Some elements of Mr. Prigozhin’s account of the younger Mr. Peskov’s services sound like trolling.
Mr. Prigozhin said that in Wagner, the Kremlin spokesman’s son had been working on ammunition in a job that would put him miles behind the front lines. He also said that the young man was different from his friends because he spoke English and “looked very smart”.
Several acting and former Russian officials have volunteered for the military since the start of last year’s invasion, using their services to boost their nationalist credentials on social media.
But it was difficult to confirm the details of the service, including whether it was in a front-line role.
In 2011, the younger Mr. Peskov posted a photo on social media showing him participating in Russia’s one-year military service.
Since Mr. Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the younger Mr. Peskov has been teased about further enlistment. Shortly after Mr Putin announced in September that he would mobilize 300,000 men to fight, opposition activists who claimed to be conscription officers called it a prank.
“Obviously, I’m not coming,” a man described as the Kremlin spokesman’s son told prank callers after being asked if he would report to the conscription office tomorrow. “I’m going to solve this on a different level.”
But he told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper that joining Wagner was his decision, saying he received the medal “for bravery.”
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The New York Times.
Oleg Matsnev and Alina Lobzina contribute to research.
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