Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary boss challenging Putin?
3 min read 24 Jun 2023, 09:24 AM ISTAnti-terror measures are being taken in Moscow following claims by the chief of mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that his forces had shot down a Russian military helicopter, and that his 25,000-strong force was ‘ready to die’ to topple Russia's military leadership.
PremiumAfter the chief of mercenary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to bring down Russia's military leadership, the mayor of Moscow on Saturday said that ‘anti-terror’ measures were being taken in the country's capital city.
On social media, Sergei Sobyanin said, “In connection with the incoming information in Moscow, anti-terrorist measures aimed at strengthening security are being taken."
Prigozhin early Saturday claimed that his forces had shot down a Russian military helicopter. "A helicopter has just now opened fire at a civilian column. It has been shot down by units of PMC Wagner," he said in a new audio message.
The Wagner group chief has earlier said that his units, which have for months spearheaded an assault in eastern Ukraine, had entered the southern Russian region of Rostov.
He also added that his 25,000-strong force was "ready to die" as he vowed to topple Russia's military leadership. “All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000. We are dying for the Russian people."
Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?
'A businessman'
In 1981, Prigozhin was convicted of robbery and assault and sentenced to 12 years in prison. After his release, he opened a restaurant business in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. It was in this capacity that he got to know now-President Vladimir Putin, then the city’s deputy mayor.
He used that connection to develop a catering business and won lucrative Russian government contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef", according to a report published by The Associated Press.
Later, expanded into other areas, including media and an infamous internet “troll factory" that led to his indictment in the US for meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
‘Wagner Group chief’
In January, Prigozhin acknowledged founding, leading and financing the shadowy Wagner company which was first seen in action in eastern Ukraine soon after a separatist conflict erupted there in April 2014, in the weeks following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
While backing the separatist insurgency in the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, Russia denied sending its own weapons and troops there despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Prigozhin’s company was called Wagner after the nickname of its first commander, Dmitry Utkin, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Russian military’s special forces. It soon established a reputation for brutality and ruthlessness.
He claimed full credit for capturing the Donetsk region salt-mining town of Soledar in Ukraine and accused the Russian Defense Ministry of trying to steal Wagner’s glory.
The chief has repeatedly complained the Russian military failed to supply Wagner with sufficient ammunition to capture Bakhmut and threatened to pull out his men.
‘Audacious challenger to Putin’
Prigozhin grew more outspoken against the Russian military conducting fighting in Ukraine. His influence on Putin was continuously growing, however, analysts warned against it.
Mark Galeotti of University College, London, who specializes in Russian security affairs said, “He’s not one of Putin’s close figures or a confidant. Prigozhin does what the Kremlin wants and does very well for himself in the process. But that’s the thing — he is part of the staff rather than part of the family", Hindustan Times reported.
He has also singled out Shoigu for withering criticism while accusing Russian military leaders of incompetence. His frequent complaints are unprecedented for Russia’s tightly controlled political system, in which only Putin could air such criticism.
The Wagner Group chief has increasingly raised his public profile, boasting almost daily about Wagner’s purported victories, sardonically mocking his enemies and complaining about the military brass.
“I don’t stop blood, but I spill blood of the enemies of our Motherland," Prigozhin has recently said.
