The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, denied a Washington Post report in an article that Prigozhin offered to share information about Russian troop positions with Kiev in exchange for Ukrainian commanders to withdraw their troops around from the war zone of Bahamut.

In an audio message posted on his Telegram channel on Monday, Prigozhin speculated that the story could have been created by his enemies. The article, in the Washington Post, was based on documents leaked by the US intelligence services on the Discord platform.

The Post reported on Sunday that Prigozhin had offered to give Ukraine’s military information on Russian troop positions if Kiev withdrew its own forces from the area around Bakhmut. Prigozhin made the proposal to Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, known as HUR, last January, the Post reported. He even cites a leaked document which states that Prigozhin met with HUR officers in an unspecified country in Africa.

“I can say with confidence, if we are serious, that I have not been in Africa at least since the beginning of the conflict, but in fact a few months before the start of the SMO [Ειδικής Στρατιωτικής Επιχείρησης]Prigozhin said. “Therefore, I just couldn’t meet up with anyone there of course.”

In his message, Prigozhin asked rhetorically: “Who is behind this? I think that either some journalists decided to make a publicity stunt, or comrades from Rubliovka now decided to make a beautiful, planted story.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today, Monday, that he could not comment on the Washington Post article, only saying: “It looks like a prank.”