Yevgeniy Prigozhin

Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (russian: link=no, Евгений Викторович Пригожин; born 1 June 1961) is a Russian oligarch and close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin was called "Putin's chef" because his restaurants and catering businesses hosted dinners which Putin attended with foreign dignitaries.

Prigozhin controls a network of companies including Wagner Group, a Russian state-backed mercenary group operating in Africa, Syria, and Ukraine; and three companies accused of interference in the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections. Prigozhin had long denied any connection to Wagner, however, a video in September 2022 showed Prigozhin in a Mari El prison recruiting inmates, promising them freedom if they served six months with the Wagner Group. On 26 September 2022, Prigozhin further admitted that he had founded the Wagner Group specifically to support Russian forces in the War in Donbas, in May 2014. Prigozhin has also long denied his role in Russian interference in U.S. elections, but in November 2022, he admitted his role in such operations, saying they would continue.

Prigozhin himself spent nine years as a convict in prisons in the Soviet Union. According to an investigation by Bellingcat, '' The Insider'', and '' Der Spiegel'', Prigozhin's operations "are tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU". Prigozhin, his companies and associates face economic sanctions and criminal charges in the United States.

Early life

Prigozhin was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) 1 June 1961, to Violetta Prigozhina ( rus, Виолетта Пригожина), who raised him as a single mother and worked at a local hospital, as his father died early. Trained by his stepfather, Samuil Zharkoy, an instructor in cross-country skiing, he attended a prestigious athletics boarding school from which he graduated in 1977. However his career in sport did not work out.
In November 1979, Prigozhin was given a suspended sentence for stealing (in Leningrad). In 1981, he was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment under articles of robbery, fraud, and involving teenagers in crime, but was pardoned in 1988, and was released in 1990. Prigozhin spent nine years in detention.

Casino, restaurant, and catering career

In 1990, after his release, he and his stepfather set up a network to sell hot dogs. Soon, according to a '' New York Times'' interview with him, "the rubles were piling up faster than his mother could count them." He also became a 15% stakeholder and manager of a Contrast, started by Boris Spektor, a classmate from his boarding school, which was the first grocery store chain in Saint Petersburg. With Prigozhin as CEO and Spektor and Igor Gorbenko, they founded the first casinos in Saint Petersburg under Spectrum CJSC (russian: links=no, ЗАО «Спектр»).) and, in 1993, began issuing gambling licenses in which shares were gained by the city of Saint Petersburg in the company 'Neva Chance (russian: links=no, Нева-Шанс) which owned the first Saint Petersburg casino AOZT Casino (russian: links=no, АОЗТ «Казино») because it had the same address and phone numbers as city hall, but later it became JV Casino Neva (russian: link=no, СП «Казино Нева») and opened on 19 August 1991. In 1992 or 1993 it changed its name to Laguna, then in 1997 to Admiral Club or more simply known as ''Admiral''. According to the Yakuza Kinichi Kamiyasu who supplied slot machines with cash prizes to St Petersburg casinos in the 1990s from his Stockholm, Sweden, company Dyna Computer Service AB which was a subsidiary of the Masimichi Iida (the brother of Chef Kinichi from Osaka, Iida Misamichi) owned Osaka firm, Dyna Company Ltd., the criminals Gennady Petrov (russian: link=no, Геннадий Петров), Alexander Malyshev (russian: link=no, Александр Малышев), and Sergey Kuzmin (russian: link=no, Сергей Кузьмин) operated the casino through a Vladimir Putin issued license to establish JV Petrodin (russian: links=no, СП «Петродин») in 1991. JV Petrodin, which Kamiyasu owned a 35% stake and Gennady Petrov and Sergey Kuzmin owned a 65% stake through their company BXM (russian: links=no, «БХМ»), used the money from the casinos to provide capital for Bank Rossiya. They founded Viking CJSC (russian: link=no, ЗАО «Викинг»), too. In 1995, when revenues began to fall, Prigozhin persuaded a director at Contrast, Kiril Ziminov, to open a restaurant with him. The two men opened the Old Customs House (russian: links=no, Старая Таможня) in Saint Petersburg. In 1997, inspired by waterfront restaurants on the Seine in Paris, Prigozhin and Ziminov spent $400,000 remodeling a rusting boat on the Vyatka River and started the floating restaurant called New Island, which became one of the most fashionable dining spots in Saint Petersburg. He said his patrons "wanted to see something new in their lives and were tired of just eating cutlets with vodka." In 2001, Prigozhin personally served food to Vladimir Putin and French president Jacques Chirac when they dined at New Island. He also hosted US President George W. Bush in 2002. In 2003, Putin celebrated his birthday at New Island. By 2003, Prigozhin had left his business partners, established his own independent restaurants, and had become a confidant of Putin, apparently free to engage in illicit activities without fear of prosecution.

His company, Concord Catering, received hundreds of millions in government contracts for feeding school children and government workers. In 2012, he received a contract to supply meals to the Russian military worth US$1.2 billion over one year. Some of the profits from this contract are alleged to have been used to start and fund the Internet Research Agency.

In 2012 he moved his family into a Saint Petersburg compound with a basketball court and a helicopter pad. He has a private jet and a 115-foot yacht.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation accused Prigozhin of corrupt business practices. They estimated his illegal wealth to be worth more than one billion rubles. Alexei Navalny has alleged that Prigozhin was linked to a company called Moskovsky Shkolnik (Moscow schoolboy) that had supplied poor quality food to Moscow schools which had caused a dysentery outbreak.

According to '' Novaya Gazeta'' in October 2018, Evgeny Gulyaev is the head of the security service for Prigozhin.

On 11 December 2019, which is "Heroes Day" or "Heroes of the Fatherland Day", Msk LLC (russian: links=no, ООО "Мск") which has the same phone number as Concord Catering, was paid 4.1 million rubles for a Kremlin banquet. In 2018, Msk LLC was paid only 2.5 million rubles from the Presidential Administration for the same banquet at the Kremlin.

Wagner Group

Prigozhin has been linked to a mercenary group known as the Wagner Group which has been involved in various actions as a private military contractor. In February 2018, Wagner attacked US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria in an attempt to take an oil field.

'' The Washington Post'' reported Prigozhin was in close contact with Russian and Syrian military officials before the 7 February action. The connections between Prigozhin and Wagner have been the subject of press coverage in Russia and the United States. Wagner is led by Dmitry Utkin, who was once head of security for Prigozhin. A person by the name of Dmitry Utkin was also listed as director general of Prigozhin's Concord Management. Since 2011, Prigozhin's mother Violetta Prigozhina has been the owner of Concord. Concord and Prigozhin denied any connection to Wagner, however in November 2016 the company confirmed to Russian media that the same Dmitry Utkin leading the Wagner Group was now in charge of Prigozhin's food businesses. Wagner has also been reported to be fighting in eastern Ukraine with pro-Russia forces. In November 2022, a Russian ex-prisoner who was released contingent on his joining the Wagner Group attacking Ukraine deserted to the Ukrainian forces. After his capture by Wagner elements, his execution via a sledgehammer blow to the skull was featured in a propaganda video, characterized as an effort to curry Putin's favor.Russian prisoner turned Wagner mercenary brutally executed while trying to desert
'' MSN'', James Kilner, November 13, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022. Prigozhin commented, "It seems to me that this film should be called: "A dog dies a dog's death'." "It was an excellent directional piece of work, watched in one breath. I hope no animals were harmed during filming.”

In July 2018, three Russian journalists working for a news organization often critical of the Russian government were murdered in the Central African Republic, where they had been attempting to investigate the activities of the Wagner Group in that country. The Russian government had begun a collaboration with the president of the Central African Republic in October 2017. In its response to the killings, Russia's foreign ministry stressed that the dead journalists had been traveling without official accreditation.

In April 2022, during Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it was reported that Prigozhin travelled to the Donbas to oversee personally Wagner Group's campaign. He was pictured wearing military fatigues with Russian Duma member Vitaly Milonov who had travelled to the front line.

In August 2022, Wagner Group began using billboards to recruit new members in Russia. Former journalist and observer of the Group, Denis Korotkov said "It looks like they have decided that they will no longer try to hide their existence"

In September 2022, a leaked video exposed Prigozhin attempting to recruit convicts to bolster the Russian forces on the front lines in the war against Ukraine. He said to the convicts "nobody goes back behind bars" and to those uncomfortable with the idea "it's either prisoners or your children - you decide". While the video was filmed at a penal colony in Yoshkar-Ola to recruit shock troops, there is evidence that convicts from a penal colony in Saint Petersburg had been recruited previously. On the 26th of September, Prigozhin directly walked back his previous claims that he had no connection with the group, releasing a statement on the Russian social media website VK wherein he admitted that he had, in fact, founded it in May 2014 to "protect the Russians" when "the genocide of the Russian population of Donbas began." He explained that he played a personal role from the start, claiming that he "found specialists who could help" after " leaningthe old weapons and orting outthe bulletproof vests" himself. He also confirmed allegations, previously denied by the Russian government, that the group had been involved in other countries aligned with Russian overseas interests, stating that the Wagner mercenaries who "defended the Syrian people, other people of Arab countries, destitute Africans and Latin Americans have become the pillars of our motherland".

On 1 October 2022, he said about the commanders of the Russian army that "All these bastards ought to be sent to the front barefoot with just a submachine gun." He called members of the Putin-controlled Russian parliament "useless" and said that the "deputies should go to the front", adding that "Those people who have been talking from tribunes for years need to start doing something." The ''Washington Post'' reported that Prigozhin was one of the few people who dared to tell Putin about the "mistakes" of Russian military commanders in the war in Ukraine.

On 23 October 2022, Prigozhin said his forces are making advances of per day, which he claimed is the norm for modern warfare. He praised the Ukrainian defenders of Bakhmut, saying that "Our units are constantly meeting with the most fierce enemy resistance, and I note that the enemy is well prepared, motivated, and works confidently and harmoniously." In November 2022, he welcomed the murder of a former member of Wagner's group who had defected to the Ukrainian side.

Internet Research Agency

Prigozhin is alleged to have financed and directed a network of companies including a company called the Internet Research Agency Ltd. (russian: link=no, ООО «Агентство интернет-исследований»), Concord Management and Consulting Company and one other related company. The three companies are accused of Internet trolling and attempting to influence the 2016 US presidential elections and other activity to influence political events outside Russia.

Russian journalist Andrey Soshnikov reported that Alexey Soskovets, who had participated in Russian youth political community, was directly connected to the offices of Internet Research in Olgino. His company, North-Western Service Agency, won 17 or 18 (according to different sources) contracts for organizing celebrations, forums and sport competitions for authorities of Saint Petersburg. The agency was the only participant in half of those bids. In the summer of 2013, the agency won a tender for providing freight services for participants of Seliger camp.

Spin offs

Campaigns against opposition in 2013 involved Dmitry Bykov and the then head of RIA Novosti, Svetlana Mironyuk, while a homepage claiming to fight fake news (''Gazeta O Gazetah'') was used to spread fake news.

International sanctions

In December 2016, the US Treasury Department designated Prigozhin pursuant to E.O.13661 for sanctions for providing support to senior officials of the Russian Federation.

In June 2017, US sanctions were imposed on one of Prigozhin's companies, Concord Management and Consulting, in connection with the war in Eastern Ukraine.

In January 2018, the US Treasury Department also designated Evro Polis Ltd for sanctions. Evro Polis is a Russian company that has contracted with the Government of Syria to protect Syrian oil fields in exchange for a 25 percent share in oil and gas production from the fields. The company was designated for being owned or controlled by Prigozhin. The sanctions require that any property or interests in property of the designated persons in the possession or control of US persons or within the United States must be blocked. Additionally, transactions by US persons involving these persons (including companies) are generally prohibited.

In September 2019, three more Prigozhin companies (Autolex Transport, Beratex Group and Linburg Industries) were sanctioned in connection with the Russian interference in the 2016 United States election.) Two of Prigozhin planes are a Raytheon Hawker 800XP with tail numbers M-VITO, which is owned since 2012 by a Seychelles shell company Beratex Group Limited, and VP-CSP, which registered with the Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority and owned since 2017 by a Seychelles shell company called LinBurg Industries.

In February 2022, the Internet Research Agency was added to the European Union sanctions list for running disinformation campaigns to manipulate public opinion and "actively supporting actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."

According to The United States Prigozhin's activities of interfering in elections and subverting public opinion are extended to Asian and African countries. The EU, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia have also designated him.

US criminal charges

On 16 February 2018, Prigozhin, the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management, another related company, and other connected Russian individuals were indicted by a US grand jury. He was charged with funding and organizing operations for the purpose of interference with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the 2016 presidential election, and other crimes including identity theft. Charges against Concord Management were dismissed with prejudice on March 16, 2020.

In February 2021, Prigozhin was added to the wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In February 2022, the United States imposed visa restrictions and froze assets of Prigozhin, his wife, son, and daughter, due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In July 2022, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about Prigozhin, the Internet Research Agency, and other entities involved in 2016 U.S. election interference.

On 7 November 2022, Prigozhin said he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to interfere in the future.

Africa interests

During 2018 Prigozhin established numerous interests in Africa through Prigozhin's mercenaries in Wagner Group and approximately 100-200 political consultants. Prigozhin established interests in especially in Madagascar and Central Africa Republic (CAR) along with other countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Senegal, Rwanda, Sudan, Libya, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Nigeria, Chad, South Sudan, and South Africa. Pyotr Bychkov (russian: link=no, Петр Александрович Бычков) is responsible for coordinating the "Africa expansion".) which is the first professional association of independent experts in political technology and consulting. It was formed to counter political election fraud and disimformation which occurred during Maidan. According to a 20 April 2018 ''Kommersant'' article, Yaroslov Ignatovsky (russian: link=no, Ярослав Ринатович Игнатовский; born 1983, Leningrad) heads Politgen (russian: link=no, "Политген") and is a political strategist that has coordinated the trolls' efforts for Prigozhin in Africa.

Central African Republic

In the Central African Republic (CAR) southwest prefecture of Lobaye and west of Bangui, the Prigozhin associated company ''Lobaye Invest'' has been engaged in the mining of diamonds, gold, and other minerals starting in early 2018. After traveling to Russia in the fall of 2017 to meet with Sergey Lavrov in Sochi and in June 2018 to meet with Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, Faustin-Archange Touadera, the President of the Central African Republic, under advice from his national security advisor Valery Zakharov (russian: link=no, Валерий Захаров)) and then in the early 2000s he worked for the North-West Customs Department in a similar posting. He provided extensive consulting to Prigozhin and his companies. increased the Russian presence in CAR by allowing 5 Russian military advisors and 170 Russian contractors to work starting in January 2018 near Bobangui at Berengo, which is the former palace of Jean-Bédel Bokassa and is 60 kilometres southwest of Bangui.), Orhan Dzhemal (russian: link=no, Орхан Джемаль), and Kirill Radchenko (russian: link=no, Кирилл Радченко), were at Borengo, formerly Bokassa's Palace, on the eve of their own murders. This palace is the base for Wagner associated activities. Since December 2017, the Kimberley Process allowed diamonds to be mined in the southwest of CAR. Under managing director Evgeny Khodotov (russian: link=no, Евгений Ходотов)) before 2008 and worked for the main department of the Russian Ministry of the Interior in the Northwestern Federal District (russian: link=no, Главное управление МВД России по Северо-Западному федеральному округу). who is associated with security for Touadera through the firm ''Sewa Security Service'', Lobaye Invest was founded through M-Invest by Dmitry Syty (russian: link=no, Дмитрий Сытый) and is a subsidiary of M-Finance which were founded by Prigozhin. On the night of 31 July 2018, three Russian journalists, Alexander Rastorguev (russian: link=no, Александр Расторгуев), Orhan Dzhemal (russian: link=no, Орхан Джемаль), and Kirill Radchenko (russian: link=no, Кирилл Радченко), who were sent by the Mikhail Khodorkovsky-sponsored Investigation Management Center (SDG) (russian: link=no, Центр управления расследованиями (ЦУР)), were killed north of Sibut while they were investigating the operations of Lobaye Invest and Russians interests in the east of CAR at the Ndassima gold field for an upcoming film.) concluded that professionals planned and conducted the murders of Rastorguev, Dzhemal, and Radchenko. On 15 April 2019, Putin sent 30 Russian troops as part of a UN mission in CAR to support Lobaye Invest interests. Beginning 18 December 2020, several hundred Russians with heavy weapons supported an offensive on Bangui which included contingents of troops from Rwanda. On 27 May 2021, three Russians were killed when a roadside bomb exploded. From 2012 until May 2021 according to DW, an estimated 800 to 2,000 Russian mercenaries have fought in CAR.

Financial support for Maria Butina in 2019

During May 2019, Maria Butina (charged with acting in the United States as an agent of a foreign government; specifically the Russian Federation) appealed for help in paying her lawyer fees. In February 2019 Valery Butin, Butina's father, told '' Izvestia'' that she owed her U.S. attorneys 40 million rubles ($US 659,000). Through Prigozhin's Fund for the Protection of National Values, which is managed by Petr Bychkov, 5 million rubles were donated to Butina's defence lawyer costs.

Financial support for Saif Gaddafi

In March 2020, it was revealed that Prigozhin had financially assisted Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late overthrown Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a bid to win the Libyan presidency in 2019.

Personal life and family

Prigozhin is married to Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina, a pharmacist who owns a network of boutique stores known as the ''Chocolate Museum'' (russian: links=no, «Музей шоколада») in Saint Petersburg. In 2012, she started her first "luxury day spa", the ''Crystal Spa & Lounge'' which won a third place award in 2013 for the Perfect Urban Day Spa. Her Crystal Spa & Lounge, located along Zhukovsky Street in Saint Petersburg, received design support from Valery Uvarov. She owns a wellness center in the Leningrad region and a boutique hotel called the ''Crystal Spa & Residence'' which won the Perfect Spa Project award in 2013. She owns the New Technologies SPA LLC (russian: link=no, ООО «Новые технологии СПА») which is located at plot 1, Granichnaya street in Lakhta Park, Sestroretsk, Kurortny District, Saint Petersburg, Also, she is the legal owner of Agat (russian: links=no, Агат). In 2022, Prigozhina was sanctioned by the European Union, the United States, New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan, Ukraine and Canada, in connection with her husband's activities in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

They have a daughter Polina and son Pavel. The United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have designated them for their association in their father's activities.

His mother, Violetta Prigozhina, who is a former teacher and doctor, is the legal owner of Concord Management and Consulting LLC (russian: links=no, ООО "Конкорд менеджмент и консалтинг" ) since 2011, Etalon LLC (russian: links=no, ООО "Эталон") since 2010, and Credo LLC (russian: links=no, ООО "Кредо") since 2011. The Prigozhin's "Bay of Islands" project (russian: links=no, Залив островов) near Lakhta is being developed by Singer-Development LLC (russian: links=no, ООО "Зингер-Девелопмент"), which as of January 2018 has the same phone number as Violetta Prigozhina's Etalon LLC. She has been sanctioned by the European Union, Switzerland, Ukraine the United Kingdom, Japan and New Zealand in connection with her son's activities in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Awards

He was awarded the 2022 Corrupt Person of the Year by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

He was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation in 2022.

See also

* Elena Khusyaynova
*Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
* Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (January–June 2018)
*Arkan

Notes

References

External links

*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prigozhin, Yevgeny
1961 births
Living people
Russians associated with interference in the 2016 United States elections
Russian criminals
Russian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions
Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions
Russian restaurateurs
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class
Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" I class
Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II class
Fugitives wanted by the United States
Russian nationalists
Russian propagandists
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia
Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas
People of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
People of the Wagner Group