Italian Defense Minister Guido Croceto on Monday accused the Russian mercenary company Wagner of playing a role in increasing migration flows to Europe to punish, he said, EU member states that support Ukraine.

“The exponential growth of the migration phenomenon from the African shores is partly, not insignificantly, due to a clear hybrid warfare strategy of the Wagner group (…) that uses its considerable weight in African countries,” argued Mr. Crosetto , the defense minister of Italy’s far-right coalition government, in a statement.

“Just as the EU, NATO and the West realized that cyber-attacks are part of the global conflict opened by the war in Ukraine, it must now be realized that on the southern European front, the situation is becoming more and more dangerous every day,” he continued.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani appeared to echo this position on Monday, on the sidelines of his visit to Israel, pointing out that “many migrants” are arriving on Italian shores “from zones controlled by the Wagner group”.

Italy, a member of the EU and NATO, has been providing support to Kiev, including military aid, since the start of the Russian army’s invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022.

Prigozhin: “We have no idea about the immigration crisis, we don’t deal with it”

The Russian private military company Wagner, whose founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is at the forefront of the war in Ukraine, while also operating in African countries, notably the Central African Republic and Mali . Its mercenaries have also operated in Libya.

Reacting to the Italian defense minister’s statements, Mr. Prigozhin, in a message — laced with insults — through the Telegram platform, countered that “we have no idea what is happening with the migration crisis, we are not dealing with it,” and called Mr. .Crochet to deal with his country.

The Italian government has been in a difficult position since the sinking of a migrant boat in Calabria last month, when at least 79 people died, especially after it was alleged that the reaction of the Italian authorities to the tragedy was too slow.

On Sunday, after another shipwreck leaving Libya, the non-governmental organization Alarm Phone complained that the Italian coast guard was not mobilized in time, despite repeated warnings and calls to rescue people in danger.