Mercenary, "Putin's chef" and criminal: Who was Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Businessman, mercenary, convicted criminal... Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group who died today in a plane crash, was one of the main allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. But on June 24, everything changed.

Barely two months ago, Prigozhin claimed that the Russian army had bombed one of the Wagner Group camps and called for an uprising of his soldiers. Although the Ministry of Defense was quick to deny these accusations, the conflict between the two forces escalated to the point that Putin described this "armed rebellion" as "treason" and said that those responsible "would pay for it."

The Kremlin was quick to reach an agreement to end the revolt, not without punishing its instigator. The Russian government seized billions of rubles in cash and gold bars from Prigozhin, dealing a severe blow to Wagner's finances. But some ardent defenders of the president went so far as to propose even harsher solutions. Andrei Gurulyov, a prominent pro-war deputy, argued that "in wartime, traitors had to be shot." "Whatever tales they tell, the only way out for Prigozhin is a bullet to the head," he said.

Prigozhin went into exile in Belarus and the tension, although it did not disappear, dissolved. The war continued its course, the head of the Wagner Group ordered his mercenaries to take vacations until the beginning of August, and he practically disappeared from the media spotlight. His last appearance came on Monday when he suggested in a video that he had returned to Africa to make Russia "even bigger on all continents." However, today he once again grabbed all the headlines.

Prigozhin died this Wednesday at the age of 62 when the private Embraer plane in which he was traveling crashed in central Russia. The ten occupants of it died in the accident, among whom was also his "right hand", Dmitri Utkin, a former Russian military intelligence officer. Although, for the moment, the causes of the accident are unknown, some media and Telegram channels are considering various versions, from a bomb attack ordered by the Kremlin to a missile from the Russian anti-aircraft defense or an attack by enemy drones.

Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1961, Yevgeny Prigozhin tried to make a career in sports, but was unsuccessful. One of the first facts known about him is that, two decades before he took charge of the Wagner Group, he was convicted of robbery, fraud and involvement of minors in criminal activities. In total, he served a sentence of almost ten years in prison for these crimes and, after being pardoned, he began working in the restaurant sector.

Although he started selling fast food -specifically, hot dogs-, in just five years, and after acquiring a stake in a supermarket chain, he managed to open his own restaurant. As he expanded his business, Prigozhin also expanded his network of contacts. Soon Vladimir Putin became one of his regular customers.

The oligarch became a truly successful businessman in this field, so much so that his catering service was in charge of distributing food to the Russian Army and the menus served at Kremlin banquets. He then began to be known by the nickname "Putin's chef".

This link with the president was what allowed him to enter the political arena, but his definitive turn towards the military business came in 2014 with the creation of the private group of Wagner mercenaries, whose name refers to the composer Richard Wagner, the favorite of his founder. Wagner has not only intervened in the conflict in Ukraine but was also present in Syria, Libya and various armed conflicts on the African continent (such as Mali) and has been a vital tool for Russia's objectives.

The group's actions led to serious international sanctions. The first came to him in December 2021 from the European Union for serious violations of human rights in various African countries. In addition, due to their "opaque actions", in 2018 the US State Department sanctioned three of their companies, the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and Concord Catering, for their role in various campaigns of interference and disinformation, especially against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election, which was won by Republican Donald Trump.

When the invasion of Ukraine began, the Wagner Group was officially recognized as an ally of Putin. However, as the war progressed, Prigozhin began to disapprove of the performance of the Russian Ministry of Defense during the conflict. Among other things, he complained about the lack of ammunition for his fighters during the siege of the town of Bakhmut and criticized the fact that "thousands of good soldiers were allowed to die." He also stated that Moscow invaded the country under false pretenses devised by the Ministry and that Russia was losing ground on the battlefield.

Finally, in June, he called on his mercenaries to revolt, hitting the waterline of the Russian front and bringing the country to the brink of civil war, a mistake that cost him the complete loss of Putin's confidence. Prigozhin then assured that his men would blockade the city of Rostov and advance towards Moscow as long as they did not have the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, and the Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, in their power. After the mediation of the Belarusian president, Alexandr Lukashenko, Wagner's leader gave up that same day and ordered his men to stop the operation. After his failed rebellion, Prigozhin went into exile in Belarus.

Prigozhin "was not one of the president's closest figures or a confidant, he just did what the Kremlin wants and he did it very well. But that's the thing: he was part of the staff, not part of the 'family'", highlighted at the time of the riot Mark Galeotti, a professor at University College London.

After the accident that cost him his life, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was not surprised by the accident and took the opportunity to mention the president of Russia, although he did not directly accuse him. "There's not much going on in Russia that Putin isn't behind, but I don't have enough information to know the answer," he added.