The course of the war in Ukraine has proved him right, a year after his death, to the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who He denounced both corruption and negligence among the Russian military leadership.
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“I am sure that the dismissal of (Defense Minister Sergei) Shoigu “It is the result of Prigozhin’s activities,” he told reporters today. Efe Ilya, a law student, after laying flowers at the memorial set up a short distance from the Kremlin.
Prigozhin died a year ago when the private plane he was travelling in crashed in mysterious circumstances, an accident that groups close to Wagner link to the president, Vladimir Putin, who would have thus taken revenge for the uprising that he had led two months earlier.
The rebel is the hero
“Although he was accused of being a coup plotter, he is remembered not as a rebel but as a hero. I think that his motives were objective. I am glad that there was no bloodshed. I am sure that planes, unfortunately, do not just crash in the Tver region,” Ilya said.
Russians today turned out to pay their respects to the man also known as “Putin’s Chef” – who made his fortune in food contracts with the Ministry of Defense – both in Moscow and at his grave in a cemetery in St. Petersburg, where a statue was recently erected in his honor.
Although he was accused of being a coup plotter, he is remembered not as a rebel, but as a hero. I think that his motives were objective. I am glad that there was no bloodshed. I am sure that planes, unfortunately, do not just crash in the Tver region.
“Most Russians continue to support him. The latest decisions taken by the new defence minister confirm what he advocated at the March for Justice (in June 2023). Thieves must be put in jail,” said a man in his 50s.
The Moscow memorial, which includes the image of Prigozhin on a red star and photos of numerous mercenaries and separatist guerrillas from Donbasdawned this morning presided over by large bouquets of red and white flowers with slogans such as “Honor. Homeland. Courage. Blood” or “The fight continues.”
Among those who came were also foreigners, who declined to speak to the press, and residents of Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow, such as a woman from Gorlovka, who said she knew “many” of those in the photos.
Contained rage
Masha and Sveta, originally from Rostov, were eyewitnesses of the Prigozhin uprising, which they remember as “a holiday” because “we all welcomed the soldiers and brought them food.”
“If he were alive now, things would be different. We miss him, both his words and his actions. He was a very brave man, fearless of nothing or anyone (…) The changes that are happening now mean that he has been heard,” said Masha, who still hopes that he is alive somewhere in Africa.
In some cases, the animosity towards the Kremlin and especially Shoigu is evident. They accuse Putin of not daring to take more drastic measures to win the war.
Iskander, a man in his 40s, is visibly indignant. He is convinced that “if what happened in 2023 were to happen now, the whole of Russia would follow suit and rise up.”
“We hate Putin. Who hates him? The Russian people. Prigozhin is everything to us. A real man. We live in a totalitarian state, that’s why everyone is silent. Now they want to block everything, even YouTube,” he lamented.
Purge among the generals, a posthumous victory
Prigozhin became a hero to many Russians when Wagner decided to temporarily put aside part of its activities as a private military company to fight in Ukraine.for which he recruited many ex-convicts.
His greatest success was the capture of Bakhmut in May 2023, after which he withdrew his men from the front amid daily verbal clashes with Shoigu and the General Staff, whom he accused of not supplying them with ammunition.
The changes he had demanded did come, but only after he had died. Shoigu was dismissed and replaced by a technocrat, Andrei Belousov. However, the head of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, remained in his post, and he also accused him of criminal negligence.
The Kremlin also launched an unprecedented purge of its generals this year for corruption, in which several generals and department heads close to Shoigu have been arrested.
Since his death, the Russian army has made significant progress in the Donetsk region, although the border incursion into the Kursk region demonstrates what he always denounced: the acute shortage of men in the ranks of the Armed Forces.
As for his legacy, his son has inherited part of the family business, although the Ministry of Defense took away several of Wagner’s contracts with African countries.
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