Adam Kinzinger Calls Wagner Rebellion in Russia a ‘Massive Blow’ to Tucker Carlson (Video)

CNN political commentator and former U.S. representative Adam Kinzinger said Friday the rebellion being waged in Russia by the Wagner military group is a “massive blow” to people like Tucker Carlson, who he said have been advancing arguments and propaganda favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago.

“It’s a massive blow to the people here in the United States, like, say, Tucker Carlson, who have been parroting Putin talking points,” Kinzinger said to Kaitlan Collins on CNN Friday. “To have Prigozhin, the head of Wagner himself, say ‘those have been lies.’ There have been a lot of people parroting those Putin lies, and the head of Wagner even just said ‘those are lies.’”

Kinzinger was referring to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, who said in a Telegram post Friday that Putin’s reasoning for invading Ukraine was based on falsehoods spun by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Watch the full video below:

Carlson, now broadcasting his views via a show posted on Twitter after being fired by Fox News in April, has for nearly a decade expressed clear support for Putin and the Russian government. Since the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 he has consistently promoted Russia’s version of events.

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For instance, Carlson once blamed the administration of President Joe Biden for theinvasion of Ukraine, referring to it was a “regime-change war against Russia.”

“It may be worth asking yourself… ‘what is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much?,” Carlson later said on his Fox News show last February. “‘Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he ever threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked my business and kept me indoors for two years? … Does he eat dogs?’ These are fair questions, and the answer to all of them is ‘no.’ Vladimir Putin didn’t do any of that.”

Carlson has also called Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” who “has no interest in freedom or democracy.”

Meanwhile the Wagner Group is a private mercenary army that has been a pillar of Russian foreign policy since its founding in 2014. Technically, such companies are illegal in Russia, but Prigozhin is a close friend of Putin’s who made a fortune from a catering business that received preferential contracts from the Russian government.

Wagner Group is also classified as a criminal organization by the U.S. government. The company sent approximately 50,000 soldiers as part of the invasion of Ukraine, most of whom are convicts offered clemency in exchange for fighting as part of Wagner.

But in the 30-minute Telegram post Friday, Prigozhin said Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine — the claim that Ukraine was planning to launch an offensive against Russian-controlled territories within its borders, was based on lies.

“There was nothing extraordinary happening on the eve of February 24,” Prigozhin said, referring to the date of the invasion in 2022. “The ministry of defense is trying to deceive the public and the president and spin the story that there was insane levels of aggression from the Ukrainian side and that they were going to attack us together with the whole Nato block.”

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As of Saturday morning, the military group has apparently captured facilities in two Russian cities, Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh, and Putin claims the rebellion may be headed toward Moscow next, per CNN.

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