Hot-dog seller, influential oligarch, Russia’s armed wing in Ukraine with his private Wagner militia… The man nicknamed “Putin’s Chef” enjoyed a phenomenal rise before becoming an enemy of the Kremlin today.
His character is as fascinating as it is terrifying. Evgueni Prigoyine was accused of treason by Vladimir Putin and on Friday 23 June went into direct confrontation with the Russian army. At the head of the powerful Wagner paramilitary group, the man was still considered a key player in the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The influential oligarch, omnipresent on social media and the target of Western sanctions, has not always been at the forefront of the stage. His story is primarily that of a man in the shadows.
Evgueni Prigojine was born in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) in 1961 and began his career under difficult circumstances. We know almost nothing about his youth, apart from a conviction for theft and fraud in 1979. It was only after nine years behind bars that his unstoppable rise began.
a first meeting with Vladimir Putin in a restaurant
When the Soviet system collapses, Evgueni Prigojine becomes self-employed and opens a hot dog stand. He then started several restaurant activities including a luxury restaurant in Saint Petersburg. There he would have met the young Vladimir Putin for the first time, who was then working with Anatoly Sobchak, the city’s mayor and mentor to the future Russian president.
After Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, the ambitious Prigoyine offered his services to the Kremlin. A job that will earn him the nickname “Putin’s Chef” and the reputation of having become a billionaire thanks to the many public contracts he has won.
Yevgeny Prigoyine and Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister, in Moscow, 2011. © Portal
The wealthy entrepreneur then diversified his activities and began making digital influence by founding the Internet Research Agency (IRA) in his own right in 2013. Often referred to as a “troll farm”, this structure floods social networks with messages spreading Kremlin propaganda: attacks on Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, promoting Brexit, supporting candidate Donald Trump in the US elections…
Octopus Wagner
These maneuvers of influence are quickly discovered by Western secret services. Yevgueni Prigojine is in the spotlight, although he currently denies being the originator of the IRA. “It’s the first time he’s really been talked about in the West,” notes Carole Grimaud, professor of geopolitics at the University of Montpellier and specialist on the Russian world, for CNEWS.
Barely a year later, in 2014, Yevgueni Prigojine founded the now-famous Wagner Group, a private mercenary militia that defends Russian interests abroad. Wagner is initially stationed in Syria to support Bashar al-Assad’s troops before advancing to Africa, his new sphere of influence. Libya, Central African Republic, Mali… The paramilitary organization is taking advantage of the anti-Western – and particularly anti-French – climate to offer its services to the ruling juntas and to compete with the former colonial powers.
Accused of abusing civilians by NGOs, Wagner is also a lucrative business for Prigojine, which thrives on monopolizing the mining resources of the areas in which it operates.
The war in Ukraine, a turning point
Until now, this base work has been carried out in the utmost secrecy, but the war in Ukraine changed the situation. In September 2022, Evgueni Prigojine turns out to be the founder of the Wagner Group, which he sends to the Ukrainian front. A video on social networks shows him recruiting soldiers in a prison. “The Wagner Group now has its own subsidiary with its own headquarters in Saint Petersburg,” notes Carole Grimaud.
Wagner’s headquarters in Saint Petersburg © Portal
Last November, Prigojine emerged from the shadows a little more. He assumes that he “meddled” in the American elections a few months before the midterms. Then, in mid-February, he made the “troll farm” in St. Petersburg his own.
“Evgueni Prigojine’s weight has increased significantly since the beginning of the war,” explains Carole Grimaud. And for a good reason. With a deployment of an estimated 40 to 50,000 men, Wagner knew how to make himself indispensable in the Ukraine with more or less explicit support from the Kremlin. “Mercenary activity is banned in Russia, which presupposes leniency on the part of the authorities. In addition, the prisoners recruited by Wagner obtained a pardon. However, only the Russian President can grant it,” explains our expert.
an internal war with Sergei Choigou
As a public figure, Evgueni Prigoyine claims freedom of expression in contrast to the Kremlin’s closed communications. As the conflict in Ukraine faltered, he gradually freed himself from Russian power by openly criticizing the General Staff.
At the beginning of January, the capture of the small Ukrainian town of Soledar by Russia caused initial friction between Wagner and the Russian army. With the militia spearheading the attack, the Russian military issues a statement without mentioning Wagner’s fighters. Evgueni Prigojine then denounced through his press service “constant attempts to steal the victories of his group”. For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry issues a new press release praising the “courage” of Wagner’s men at Soledar, a first since the beginning of the war.
What was just tension turned into open war on February 21. Evgueni Prigoyine accuses the chief of staff and defense minister Sergei Shoigu of “not giving ammunition to the paramilitary group Wagner, but also not helping them with air transport”. “There is a frontal opposition that is nothing less than an attempt to destroy Wagner. “You can compare that to a betrayal of the fatherland,” he thundered in the telegram.
As long as the oligarch continued to serve the Russian cause and ideology, the Kremlin let him. But “Vladimir Putin will not hesitate to sack him if he becomes too dangerous,” predicted Carole Grimaud last March.
a suspected violence
On the front lines, Prigozhin has also earned a reputation as a ruthless warlord, using ex-prisoners as cannon fodder and not shying away from executing fugitives.
Last November, he amused himself by filming the execution of one of his men, who was accused of desertion and being hit in the head with a sledgehammer. “It’s a great work of realization, you can see it in one sitting. I hope no animal was harmed during the filming,” he joked. The violence is completely taken over by Prigojine.
Flirting with legality, on the border between public contracts and private business, Evgueni Prigojine’s career could be imitated. Some press reports have recently reported the formation of new paramilitary militias. One would be close to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, another would have been set up by gas giant Gazprom.
political ambitions
The one who was referred to a few months ago as the “Kremlin’s henchman” even harbored political ambitions. In an article published by Le Monde, the Russian-language media outlet Meduza reveals that the oligarch is preparing to launch a “conservative political movement”.
“In Russia, Prigoyine embodies the anger of an ultra-nationalist fringe group that criticizes the Russian army for its defeats and advocates military escalation,” decodes Carole Grimaud, for whom the businessman may want to “prepare the consequences – cheese fries”.
Thus, Evegueni Prigojine’s uprising could upset his future, but also that of the country. It represents the greatest challenge yet to Putin’s long rule and opens up Russia’s worst security crisis since he took power in late 1999. It also comes at a time when Kiev is in the midst of a counteroffensive to retake territory.
The importance of this mutiny has not escaped the eyes of world leaders. Washington, Paris, Berlin and Rome have said they are closely monitoring developments.