Yevgeny Prigozhin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yevgeny Prigozhin
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Евгений Пригожин
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Yevgeny Prigozhin passport photograph
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| Leader of the Wagner Group | |
| In office February 2014 – 23 August 2023 |
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| Deputy | Mikhail Mizintsev |
| Military commander | Dmitry Utkin |
| Succeeded by | TBD |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (Евгений Викторович Пригожин)
1 June 1961 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 23 August 2023 (aged 62) Kuzhenkino, Bologovsky District, Tver Oblast, Russia |
| Cause of death | Plane crash |
| Spouse | Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Leningrad Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute (dropped out) |
| Awards |
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| Nickname | "Putin's chef" |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Russia |
| Commands | Wagner Group |
| Battles/wars |
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| Business information | |
| Organization |
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Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (Russian: Евгений Викторович Пригожин, IPA: [jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ prʲɪˈɡoʐɨn]; 1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian oligarch, mercenary leader, and former close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until he launched a rebellion in June 2023. Prigozhin was sometimes called "Putin's chef", as he owned restaurants and catering companies that provide services for the Kremlin. Once a convict in the Soviet Union, Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies, notably the Wagner private military company, which was supported by the Russian state, as well as three companies accused of interference in the 2016 and 2018 US elections. According to a 2022 investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, and Der Spiegel, Prigozhin's activities "are tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU".
After years of denying links to the Wagner Group, in September 2022 he confirmed that he was its founder. He stated that he founded it in May 2014, to support Russian proxy forces in the Donbas War against Ukraine. This admission was prompted by a viral video in 2022 in which Prigozhin was shown at a Russian prison recruiting inmates, promising them freedom if they served six months with the Wagner Group. His Wagner Group played an important role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It also supported Russian interests in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and several other countries. In November 2022, Prigozhin also admitted his role in Russian interference in US elections, saying such operations would continue. In February 2023, he stated he was the founder and long-time manager of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company accused of online propaganda and disinformation.
Prigozhin's companies and associates (and formerly Prigozhin himself) face economic sanctions and criminal charges in the United States, and in the United Kingdom he remained a designated person under sanctions. The FBI offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest of Prigozhin. In October 2020, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against Prigozhin in connection with his financing of the activities of Wagner Group in Libya.
Prigozhin openly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry for corruption and for mishandling the war against Ukraine. On 23 June 2023, he used the Wagner Group to launch a rebellion against the Russian military leadership, accusing the Defense Ministry of shelling Wagner soldiers. Wagner captured the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and headed for Moscow. Negotiations led to the rebellion being called off the following day. Prigozhin agreed to move to Belarus and criminal charges against him for rebellion were dropped. Wagner mutineers would not be prosecuted if they agreed to either sign contracts with the Defense Ministry or move to Belarus.
On 23 August 2023, the BBC reported that Prigozhin was "presumed dead" in a plane crash in Tver Oblast, north of Moscow, along with nine other people. The plane was reportedly shot down by Russian forces.
Contents
Early life and education
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin was born an only child on 1 June 1961 in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). His mother, Violetta Kirovna Prigozhina, was a hospital nurse. His father, Viktor Yevgenyevich Prigozhin, was a mining engineer who died when Yevgeny was nine. His grandfather, Yevgeny Ilyich Prigozhin, was a captain in the Red Army during World War II, obtaining the Red Banner after fighting in the Battles of Rzhev.
His father and stepfather were Jewish. His great-uncle was Soviet scientist Yefim Ilyich Prigozhin. He settled with Yefim for several years during his childhood in the Ukrainian city of Zhovti Vody, where he worked in an open-pit uranium mine.
His stepfather, Samuil Fridmanovich Zharkoi, was a ski instructor and introduced Prigozhin to cross-country skiing. Aspiring to be a professional skier, he graduated from Leningrad Sports Boarding School No. 62 in 1977. However, he abandoned his sports career after an injury. He later worked as a fitness trainer at a children's sports school.
Early career and rise to prominence
After his release from prison in 1990, Prigozhin began selling hot dogs alongside his mother and stepfather at the Apraksin Dvor open-air market in Leningrad. Soon, according to a New York Times interview with him, "the rubles were piling up faster than his mother could count them." After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin followed the entrepreneurial spirit of the times and founded or became involved in many new businesses.
From 1991 to 1997, Prigozhin was heavily involved in the grocery store business. He became 15% stakeholder and manager of Contrast, which was the first grocery store chain in Saint Petersburg and founded by his former classmate Boris Spektor.
Around the same time, Prigozhin became involved in the gambling business. In 1995, Prigozhin entered the restaurant business. When revenues of his other businesses began to fall, Prigozhin persuaded Kiril Ziminov to open a restaurant with him. They opened Prigozhin's first restaurant: Old Customs House (Russian: Старая Таможня) in Saint Petersburg. In 1997, they founded a second restaurant, New Island, a floating restaurant that became one of the most fashionable dining spots in the city. Inspired by waterfront restaurants on the Seine in Paris, Prigozhin and Ziminov created the restaurant by spending US$400,000 to remodel a rusting boat on the Vyatka River. In 2001, Prigozhin personally served food to Vladimir Putin and French president Jacques Chirac when they dined at New Island. He hosted US president George W. Bush in 2002. In 2003, Putin celebrated his birthday at New Island.
Over the course of the 2000s, Prigozhin grew closer to Vladimir Putin. By 2003, he left his business partners and established his own independent restaurants. Notably, one of Prigozhin's companies, Concord Catering, began winning numerous government contracts. He 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.
On 11 December 2018, a company claimed to be unaffiliated with Concord Catering called Msk LLC (Russian: ООО "Мск") was paid 2.5 million rubles for an annual "Heroes of the Fatherland Day" banquet held at the Kremlin. However, Msk LLC shares the same contact phone number with Concord. On 11 December 2019, the company received another 4.1 million rubles for another banquet.
In 2012, he moved his family into a Saint Petersburg compound with a basketball court and a helicopter pad. By this point he owned a private jet and a 115-foot yacht. Prigozhin was linked to several aircraft since, including two Cessna 182s as well as Embraer Legacy 600, British Aerospace 125 and Hawker 800XP jets.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation accused Prigozhin of corrupt business practices. In 2017, they estimated his illegal wealth to be worth more than one billion rubles.
Personal life
Prigozhin was married to Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina, a pharmacist and businesswoman. She owns a network of boutique stores known as the Chocolate Museum («Музей шоколада») in Saint Petersburg. In 2012, she started the Crystal Spa & Lounge, a day spa located along Zhukovsky Street in Saint Petersburg, which won a third place award in 2013 for the Perfect Urban Day Spa. 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 (ООО «Новые технологии СПА») which is located at plot 1, Granichnaya street in Lakhta Park, Sestroretsk, Kurortny District, Saint Petersburg. She is also the owner of Agat, part of the Concord group (Russian: Агат).
The couple had two daughters: Polina (Полина), born 1992 and Veronika (Вероника), born 2005, and a son Pavel (Павел), born in either 1996 or 1998.
Prigozhin's mother, Violetta Prigozhina, is a former doctor and educator, and the current legal owner of Concord Management and Consulting LLC (ООО "Конкорд менеджмент и консалтинг") since 2011, Etalon LLC (ООО "Эталон") since 2010, and Credo LLC (ООО "Кредо") since 2011.
Death
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According to Russia's emergency ministry, Prigozhin died in a plane crash on 23 August 2023. The plane was en route from Moscow to Saint Petersburg when it crashed, killing all 10 people on board. Russian state-owned media agency TASS reported that Prigozhin had been on the passenger list of the flight.
The passengers' deaths were officially confirmed on 27 August, following genetic analysis conducted on the remains recovered from the wreckage.
Makeshift memorials for Prigozhin were made in several cities with candles, flowers, Wagner flags and sledgehammers which referenced the method Wagner used to execute deserters.
See also
In Spanish: Yevgueni Prigozhin para niños
- Elena Khusyaynova
- Arkan
Images for kids
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Bakhmut in April 2023. At the end of April, Prigozhin said that his forces were losing around 100 men a day.
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Prigozhin was in a public feud with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
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