Mr. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner
In a series of shocking developments from the evening of June 23 to the morning of June 24, mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that his Wagner forces had entered Russia from Ukraine and were ready to "do everything" to fight Moscow's regular army, hours after the Kremlin accused him of plotting an armed uprising.
It all started when Prigozhin claimed, without providing evidence, that a large number of Wagner soldiers had been killed in an airstrike carried out by the Russian military and vowed to punish defense officials in Moscow, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin, and called on Wagner soldiers to disobey his orders and arrest him, TASS reported.
Wagner boss says he has arrived at Russian military headquarters in Rostov, security tightened in Moscow
The developments mark a new, and potentially far-reaching, escalation in the increasingly tense relationship between the top brass of Russia’s Defense Ministry and the head of Wagner, the private military company that has emerged as a force in the conflict in Ukraine. As the situation could evolve rapidly and Prigozhin’s future remains uncertain, his life story is being re-examined.
"Putin's Chef"
Prigozhin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)—like Russian President Vladimir Putin—in 1961 (making him nine years younger than the Russian leader), according to The Guardian . His father died when he was young, and his mother worked in a hospital. The young Prigozhin was sent to a sports academy, where he spent hours a day practicing cross-country skiing.
But Mr. Prigozhin never became a professional athlete. After leaving school, he became involved with a gang of robbers in St. Petersburg. For this, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1981. He was released in 1990, in the final days of the Soviet Union.
Mr. Prigozhin returned to St. Petersburg, and with the old rules gone, opportunities abounded for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. He started out selling hot dogs and quickly rose to open upscale restaurants, partly thanks to his ability to make connections. It was along this path that Mr. Prigozhin met Mr. Putin, who was then deputy mayor of St. Petersburg.
One of the people with whom Mr. Prigozhin had a relationship was the famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. When Mr. Rostropovich hosted the Queen of Spain at his St. Petersburg home in 2001, Mr. Prigozhin provided catering. Mr. Rostropovich later invited Mr. Prigozhin and his wife to a gala in London for the cellist’s 75th birthday in 2002.
By then, Putin had become president of Russia. In his early years in power, Putin enjoyed hosting foreign leaders in his hometown, sometimes taking them to New Island, a boat that Prigozhin had converted into a floating restaurant. Over time, Prigozhin became known as “Putin’s chef,” appearing behind the Russian leader at important dinners, even though he was not a chef himself.
Mr Prigozhin (left) serves dinner to Mr Putin (centre) in 2011, when Mr Putin was Russia's prime minister.
The name reflects not only their close relationship but also Mr Prigozhin’s vast business interests, with a series of catering contracts for the Russian military, government and schools. In 2012, for example, he won a contract worth more than 10.5 billion rubles to supply food to Moscow schools, according to Russian media.
Rise with Wagner
But it was not until after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 that Prigozhin assumed his most notorious role as founder and leader of Wagner, although he only acknowledged it in September 2022. And it wasn’t until full-scale conflict between Russia and Ukraine erupted in February last year that Wagner became a name that dominated the news for days during the war.
As Russian regular forces have repeatedly faced setbacks in Ukraine, Wagner has emerged as a key fighting force, numbering as many as 50,000, including many prisoners. Wagner’s most notable involvement in Ukraine to date has been in the months-long battle for the “meat grinder” of Bakhmut in the Donbass region.
At the same time, however, the conflict between Mr. Prigozhin and the defense establishment in Moscow has also deepened. Starting with statements that Wagner was not being provided with enough weapons by the Russian military to fight, Mr. Prigozhin has become more acrimonious over time, going so far as to accuse Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian military Valery Gerasimov of “deceiving” President Putin about Moscow’s losses on the battlefield.
Outside the PWC Wagner Center in St. Petersburg
Mr Prigozhin’s increasingly strident criticism has led some to wonder where his ambitions lie. A source in Russia’s political elite told The Guardian that “people in the FSB are very angry with Mr Prigozhin and see him as a threat to the constitutional order”.
The Kremlin said on June 24 that President Putin had been continuously informed about the latest developments following the accusations against Mr. Prigozhin. However, the Russian leader did not immediately comment on the incident.
Sanctioned and prosecuted by the US
Mr. Prigozhin has publicly acknowledged that he was behind a “troll factory” called the Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg. In February 2018, he was one of 13 Russians indicted by the United States for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through the organization. Washington also imposed sanctions on him in December 2016, according to The New York Times.
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