Biden jokes that Wagner Group leader should be wary: ‘I’d keep my eye on the menu’

President Biden on Thursday jokingly warned Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to watch what he eats following a failed coup in Russia last month after Prigozhin briefly led a revolt with his private military.

“If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate; I’d keep my eye on my menu,” Biden quipped at a news conference in Helsinki. 

Prigozhin’s whereabouts are currently unknown after his march on the Kremlin abruptly ended less than 24 hours after it began. 

Moscow earlier this week claimed that Prigozhin met with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the coup, which he viewed as treason. 

The Wagner Group boss was first thought to have been exiled to Belarus, but the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, last week hinted that Prigozhin could still be in Russia. 

Asked whether Prigozhin’s rebellion raises the likelihood that Putin will escalate Russia’s war on Ukraine, Biden said he is not aware of the Wagner boss’s current relationship to the Russian leader. 

“God only knows” what comes next with Prigozhin, Biden said. “We’re not even sure where he is, and what relationship he has. … all kidding aside, who knows? I don’t know. I don’t think any of us know for certain what the future of Prighozin is in Russia.” 

Biden was in Helsinki following the NATO summit in Lithuania, where member nations hashed out continued support for Kyiv in the ongoing war and boosted defense spending for the alliance.  

The summit was seen as a blow to Putin, as allies stood as united as ever against his invasion of Ukraine.