Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? What is his connection to Russian special forces (Spetznaz)?
Elena Gold
61-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin used to be Putin’s “chef” – in the picture above he is serving at a dinner that Vladimir Putin hosted for President George W. Bush during his visit to Russia in 2006.
Just imagine: These were the times when western leaders thought that Putin was a great guy – and even invited him to be part of G-7.
Another photo from a dinner, where Prigozhin personally serves George W.
Prigozhin owned a few restaurants in St. Petersburg, which were frequented by various “resolvers” since 1990s, the time when Putin started building his wealth, by distributing government property of the collapsed USSR to his buddies.
“Bandit Petersburg” TV series, popular in Russia, depicts, albeit in PG-13 way, the hub of criminal activity that the “second capital” of Russia became at the time. That’s when the ex-KGB clerk Vladimir Putin became the link between the mafia bosses and the local council, using bandits to do the jobs they do best: eliminating competition.
The mafia bosses didn’t know at the time that FSB will take over this function in the years to come, taking them out one by one, to clean up Vladimir Putin’s career history.
Back in 1992, the little-known "chairman of the foreign relations committee of the mayor's office of St. Petersburg" Vladimir Putin was accused of corruption to the amount of 122 million dollars.
Yevgeny Prigozhin was part of that whole mega-criminal Petersburg scene.
Prigozhin is an ex-felon who served 9 years of his 12-year sentence in a Russian penal colony for robbery, involvement of minors in inappropriate activities and other spicy offenses.
He got out of prison in 1988 and by 1990 he was allowed to leave the town near the penal colony, where he was required to reside after being let out early.
In 1991 the USSR collapsed, and all the government property became available for grabs. This was the decade when Yevgeny Prigozhin developed into the man he is today.
I’d say, Vladimir Putin is also a man from “turbulent 1990s”, as this decade is known in Russia, rather than his earlier unremarkable service in East Germany’s Stasi/KGB, organizing parties for superiors.
Photos from 1990s. Can you find Vlad Putin on each of them?
In early 1990s, Prigozhin with a friend started a casino in St. Petersburg and Vladimir Putin was the chairman of the “Supervisory Board for Casinos and Gambling”, in the mayor's office. They might have met already at the time.
But it was when Prigozhin opened the restaurant “Old Customs Office” (“Staraya Tamozhnya”) in the center of St. Petersburg that he hit the jackpot. The restaurant became popular with top Petersburg officials and criminal bosses alike. And Prigozhin was the man looking after them while they talked business.
By “looking after them” I don’t mean only bringing plates of food personally, with a bow. Cameras, bugs, all these things were in use, on request of his curators from FSB. Prigozhin learned since his time in prison that cooperating with FSB allows you “under the radar of the law” status. (It is only later in life that he rose to “above the law” status.)
When Putin moved to Moscow from St. Petersburg, Prigozhin, too, moved to the capital.
By 2023, Prigozhin rose to the status of a bona fide criminal boss. Although he used to call himself “a businessman”, being the boss was what he really craved.
Reportedly, he rose in ranks of Putin’s system by creating the structure of “bots” – Internet commentators promoting the government’s agenda, to maintain the appearance of public support and discredit opponents. In 2011–2012, Russians were appalled at Medvedev-Putin switch, followed by mass protests. Prigozhin didn’t invent the “troll factory”: his bots were a copy of Chinese “web brigades”.
Since then, Prigozhin created a range of companies in the media space (including RIA FAN – a news agency spreading propaganda as “news”).
It is Prigozhin’s “Internet troll factory” in St. Petersburg that was accused in attempting to influence the results of 2016 presidential elections in the USA by lobbying the election of Donald Trump. Prigozhin is wanted by FBI with $250,000 bounty for his arrest, for that campaign.
In July 2022, the USA government upped that offer to $10 million, just for the information about Prigozhin’s involvement in that campaign.
Prigozhin also owned a catering company, found guilty in supplying produce causing mass poisoning of kids in kindergartens of Moscow (2019). The catering company supplied 90% of Moscow schools and 90% of army regiments. It’s only with the sanction of Putin that government contracts of such value could be approved.
But most westerners only heard about Prigozhin as the chief of “Wagner” mercenary squad.
The squad was formed in 2014 to hide Russian government’s involvement in Donbas: Putin claimed that there weren’t Russian forces, while arming Wagner fighters.
(The regular Russian troops and army officers were also present in Donbas and fought against Ukraine’s defence forces.)
Later, Wagner mercenaries became the leading ground force of Russia’s involvement in Syria on the side of Assad.
The company was financed, apparently, by Prigozhin’s catering operation: The substandard produce purchased at double the price, brought mega-profits, which were cashed up to pay wages to “Wagner” fighters.
“Wagner” trained at the grounds of the special forces of GRU (Ministry of Defence), under the guidance of their instructors. The Ministry of Defence supplied “Wagner” with tanks, helicopters, artillery, guns, munitions.
“Wagner” was and remains Putin’s squad for the tasks that are “under the radar”.
Until summer 2022, Prigozhin denied his involvement in Wagner — and even filed for “defamation” against journalists who wrote about it.
It’s only half a year ago that he suddenly declared himself the founder of Wagner. Not only that, he established “Wagner Centre” in St. Petersburg, which occupies a giant building.
“Wagner” recruiters openly recruit in 42 cities of Russia.
Prigozhin’s close ties with Vladimir Putin’s government are hard to hide. That became a huge problem for Russia’s leader, after explosive testimonies of ex-Wagner fighters released by human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin from GULAGU•net, highlighting routine practices of mass executions of civilians, as well as those soldiers who refused to go in “meat attacks” on Ukrainian positions.
The extrajudicial executions (similar to the recent video of a torturous death of a Ukrainian captive), were committed on direct orders of Prigozhin’s commanders.
The new materials follow recent explosive revelations by Dossier, exposing the link of “Wagner” to Russian “Spetznaz” special forces.
Reportedly, “Wagner” squad owes its name to Dmitry Utkin, a lieutenant colonel in the reserve of Russian special forces, who became one of its first commanders with the call sign “Wagner”.
Prior to “Wagner”, Utkin served as a special forces officer in GRU, where he held the rank of lieutenant colonel.
“Prigozhin organized his own armed team, which had not yet have a name, but was referred to by the new call sign of its commander Dmitry Utkin - “Wagner,” Dossier reported.
• In various documents, it is first mentioned as a tactical group of 150-200 fighters, then a battalion.
• By 2022, it had grown to the brigade level, and the staff of “Wagner” went up to 7,000 people.
• In 2015, the Ukrainian side intercepted Utkin’s conversation about the defeat of “Wagnerites” in the battle with Ukrainian defence forces near Debaltsevo on January 28, 2015.
• In December 2016, Vladimir Putin hosted a reception in Kremlin in honor of "Heroes of the Fatherland Day". Utkin is in photos near Putin, with 4 Orders of Courage on his chest. Before his involvement with Prigozhin, Utkin only had one Order of Courage.
• Soon Utkin also got awarded the title of the Hero of Russia.
Since the start of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, Prigozhin started increasing his media presence and highlighting his role and successes of “Wagner” in fighting Ukrainian defence forces.
Reportedly, it was “Wagner” regiment that was tasked with overthrowing the Ukrainian government in Kyiv on 24–25 February 2022.
It is only because the Ukrainian government didn’t follow the official security protocol and didn’t evacuate to Hostomel that the Ministry of Defense officials avoided certain captivity and were able to coordinate defence efforts of the Ukrainian forces. Hostomel had been immediately, in the first hours, blocked by paratroopers from 30 helicopters.
Prigozhin’s more prominent position in media couldn’t be unsanctioned by Kremlin and Vladimir Putin: nothing significant happens in Russia without its leader approval.
Experts say that Prigozhin’s prominence was supposed to counterbalance too much strength that army generals gained with the start of “special operation”. Putin, whose skill has always been in balancing opposing forces in Russia, couldn’t allow a chance for a “generals’ coup” to develop.
Recently Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Minister of Defence, announced that “Russia had already achieved the main goals of the special operation”.
Yesterday, the same was said by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Russia has achieved the goals that the operation in Ukraine pursued, Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote.
According to Prigozhin, that’s what Russia has achieved:
• Liquidated a huge number of fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• Cut off the Sea of Azov and a large piece of the Black Sea.
• Seized a “fat piece” of the Ukrainian territory.
• Created the land corridor to Crimea.
It’s interesting that just a couple of days ago, I’ve heard the same opinion from a Kremlin bot here on Quora.
Prigozhin reflected on the current mood in the country, saying that "for the authorities and for society as a whole, today it’s necessary to put a fat ‘full stop’ sign” in the “special operation”.
According to Prigozhin, the ideal option would be "to announce the end of SMO and inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results it planned."
However, this must be done along with "firmly gaining a foothold, clawing in those territories that already exist.”
In other words, the same position that Putin’s mouthpieces Lavrov and Peskov asked for, for months: Let Russia keep the occupied territories. Please. Pretty please.
Prigozhin believes, however, that it’s unlikely that the situation will remain as it is, since Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive.
Moreover, Prigozhin is confident that the sooner the counteroffensive starts, the better — while the West, according to him, is playing for time, holding Ukraine back, in order to increase pressure on the elites, who are dissatisfied with Putin.
Prigozhin fears that a “negotiated resolution” between Russian elites and the West may happen. Which, in his view, won’t be good for Russia. (Definitely won’t be good for vultures like him.)
Prigozhin said he doesn’t believe that it’s possible for Russia to advance and grab more of Ukrainian territories.
The second scenario is Russia’s defeat — which he says will be… good for Russia! Because it will allow Russia to regroup and go for a revenge.
Something is brewing in Russia. Something big.
እኛ ኤርትራዉያን የመሃልና የመስመር ዳኞች፡ ለጀግናው የዩክሬን ህዝብ ከነጀግናው መሪያቸዉ ትልቅ ክብር እንሰጣቸዋለን!
ጀግናው ዘለንስኪ ባያነሳ ጋሻ፡
በቦረቀ ነበረ አውሮፓ ላይ ራሻ።
ወራሪ ከሰሜን ይምጣ ከደቡብ ከምስራቅ ይምጣ ከምዕራብ ወራሪ ነው፡ በህዝብ ትግልም ይሸነፋል![ አራት ሚሊየን ነጥቦች]
“ክሬሚያ ሆይ ብረሳሽ ቀኜ ትርሳኝ!” ቀኜ ትርሳኝ” እያለ ነው የኣውሮፓው ሻዕብያ፡ ዘለንስኪ ጀግናው!
ሲጠቃለል
መለስ = ፑቲን = የማሌ (የማርክስና የሌኒን ግርፍ) ልዑላዊ ሃገሮችን የወረሩ ወፈፌ መሪዎች
የታላቋ ትግራይ ህልም = የታላቋ ሩስያ ህልም = የታላቋ ጦቢያ ህልም
ደደቢት ብቻ ኣይደለም ደደብ፤ ሩስያም (ክሬምሊንም) ጭምር ደደብ ነው!
ዘለንስኪ ጀግና ነው!
ድል ለሰፊው የዩክሬን ህዝብ!