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Yevgeny V. Prigozhin grew to become wealthy by way of his private ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, profitable profitable catering and building contracts with the Russian authorities whereas constructing a mercenary pressure often called Wagner.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he threw his fighters into the fray, as their ranks swelled with prisoner recruits. In current months, Mr. Prigozhin (pronounced pree-GOH-zhin) has additionally emerged as a public energy participant, utilizing social media to show powerful discuss and brutality into his private model. On the similar time, although, he started launching accusations at Russia’s army management, blaming it for failing to offer his forces with sufficient ammunition and ignoring troopers’ struggles.
However till Friday — when Russian generals accused Mr. Prigozhin of mounting a coup — Mr. Putin had not checked Mr. Prigozhin’s on-line accusations, regardless of jailing or fining many different critics of the battle.
Spewing vulgarities, disregarding the regulation and displaying loyalty to nobody however Mr. Putin, Mr. Prigozhin, a businessman often called “Putin’s chef” due to his catering contracts with the Kremlin and Russian army, has change into an emblem of wartime Russia: ruthless, shameless and lawless. It was a big turnabout for Mr. Prigozhin, who acknowledged solely final fall that he had based Wagner.
In Moscow, he has been dogged by open questions and criticism, with analysts expressing doubts that his recruitment of prisoners and endorsement of extrajudicial executions had broad attraction.
Mr. Prigozhin expanded Wagner’s presence in Ukraine after the Kremlin’s try and seize Kyiv, the capital, failed within the preliminary days of its invasion early final yr. The “non-public army firm” was at that time largely energetic in Syria and Africa, the place it operated each on behalf of the Russian authorities and within the service of Mr. Prigozhin’s personal enterprise pursuits.
He was additionally energetic elsewhere. In February 2018, Mr. Prigozhin was one among 13 Russians indicted by a federal grand jury for interfering within the American election by way of the Web Analysis Company, a troll manufacturing unit that unfold falsehoods and waged data warfare in opposition to the US, in assist of the presidential marketing campaign of Donald J. Trump.
The US imposed sanctions in opposition to Mr. Prigozhin in December 2016.
Born in 1961 when St. Petersburg was known as Leningrad, Mr. Prigozhin was despatched to jail in 1981 for theft and different crimes, in keeping with Meduza, a web-based investigative publication.
After serving his nine-year sentence, he opened a hot-dog stand, ultimately resulting in an entrepreneurial profession beginning eating places and comfort shops.
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