1 of 2 Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has close ties to the Kremlin — Photo: AP Photo Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has close ties to the Kremlin — Photo: AP Photo
Russian oligarch; former hot dog vendor; near Vladimir Putin; Leader of a mercenary group known for their cruelty and brutal tactics on the battlefield; and wanted by the FBI. This is Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, bald, white, and browneyed, as described in the U.S. Investigative Police wanted file. The reward for anyone who has concrete information about him? 250 thousand dollars.
Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner Group, surprised the world last Friday (14) by defending the end of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in what is believed to be the first public proposal of its kind by someone close to Putin.
“To the authorities [russas] and society in general, it is necessary to end the special military operation,” Prigozhin wrote in an article published on Telegram, referring to how Russia calls the war in Ukraine. The ideal, in his words, would be “to proclaim that Russia has achieved the desired results, and in a way we have.”
Wagner group
According to the BBC, Prigozhin is a controversial figure and has enjoyed a surprise rise in the Russian establishment. The BBC report also describes Prigozhin as having a deep understanding of Russian prisons, where he recruited criminals for the Wagner group, no matter how serious the crimes committed by the convicts.
“The death of a dog by a dog,” said Prigozhin, while endorsing a video showing a defector from Wagner’s group, who had apparently been brought back by the Ukrainians as part of a prisoner exchange, was savagely murdered in November last year.
The group was formed in 2014 and one of their first known missions took place in Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula that same year, when mercenaries in unmarked uniforms helped Russianbacked separatists take over the region.
FBI
2 of 2 FBI Poster of Yevgeny Prigozhin — Photo: Reproduction/FBI FBI Poster of Yevgeny Prigozhin — Photo: Reproduction/FBI
According to the FBI website, Prigozhin is wanted for his involvement in a conspiracy to rig the 2016 US presidential election. He was the main financier of the Internet Research Agency (IRA) based in St. Petersburg. He oversaw and authorized interventions in United States politics and elections, including the purchase of US computer server space; creating hundreds of fake profiles and using stolen American identities.
In November last year, Prigozhin admitted to the intervention and said he would continue to do so in the future. “We have intervened, we have intervened and we will continue to intervene. Meticulous, precise, surgical and in our own way, as we can. In our special surgeries, we’re going to remove the kidneys and liver right away,” he says.
“Orders come from dad”
Once, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Prigozhin, in a meeting with a senior Russian government official, as described by The Guardian, asked the Defense Ministry for land that he could use to train “volunteers.”
Prigozhin, the Guardian reported, made it clear that this was no ordinary request. “Orders come from dad,” he told defense officials, using a nickname for Putin to emphasize his closeness to the president.
Hot dog
Also, according to the Guardian, which heard from people close to Prigozhin, neither money nor power were the only motivating factors behind his rise. Instead, they say, he is driven by the thrill of pursuit, a belief that he is fighting corrupt elites, and a desire to crush his rivals.
In 1980, the oligarch was sentenced to 13 years in prison for a series of robberies in St. Petersburg. After his release, he ran a small hot dog business. In a short time, Prigozhin gained space and took a stake in a chain of supermarkets. In 1995 he decided to open a restaurant with his partners as his business started to grow even more.