The conflict in Ukraine allowed the unpredictable head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to establish himself as a leading figure in Russia, but his call on June 24 to rebel against the Defense Ministry alienated him from the Russian authorities and the president Vladimir Putin called him a “traitor”.
(Also: The possible death of the head of the Wagner Group ‘would not be a surprise to anyone’: White House)
This Wednesday the name of Prigozhin appears in the list of passengers of a plane that crashed in the Tver region, near Moscow. All ten people aboard the aircraft died, according to the Rosaviatsia aeronautical service, although it is not known if Prigozhin was among the victims..
The 62-year-old volcanic billionaire, with a shaved head and hard features, revolted against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on June 24, after accusing him of ordering the bombing of Wagner bases in the rear of the Ukrainian front.
(In context: Head of the Wagner group, on the passenger list of the plane that crashed in Russia)
He also promised to “stop” the Moscow military command, recalled that he had “25,000” fighters at his disposal and called on the Russians to join his forces to “end disorder.”
Putin called him a “traitor” and warned of the risk of a “civil war”.
Waqner’s men had managed to seize barracks in southwestern Russia and began a march on Moscow, but Prigozhin put an end to the mutiny that same day.
First, he clarified that his intention was not to carry out “a coup d’état”, but to lead a “march for justice” and then reached an agreement allowing him to leave for Belarus and his men to join the regular army.
(Also read: Russian prisoners released to fight with Wagner in Ukraine commit terrible crimes)
Since then, the Wagner leader has returned to Russia several times and was even received on June 29 by Putin in the Kremlin.
On Monday night, he appeared in a video released by groups close to Wagner claiming to be in Africa, “making Russia even greater on every continent and Africa even freer.”
Posing on the front line
The conflict in Ukraine marked a turning point in the career of this ambitious businessman.
In May of this year, He achieved his consecration by claiming the conquest of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut (east), one of the few victories in 2023 of the Russian forces, after months of fierce fighting.
(Also: Is Wagner’s Boss In Africa? Prigozhin Appears For First Time On Video Since Mutiny)
But during the battle of Bakhmut, tensions with the Russian General Staff increased. Prigozhin accused the military of skimping on ammunition and posted videos insulting Russian commanders.
An unimaginable attitude for any other individual in Russia, where severe repression reigns.
For years, Prigozhin did shadow work for the Kremlin, sending mercenaries from his private group, Wagner, to theaters of conflict in the Middle East and Africa, although he always denied any involvement in them.
The strategy changed with the start of the conflict in Ukraine, in February 2022.
His public irruption occurred in September of that year, when the Russian army was suffering serious and humiliating setbacks.
(Keep reading: Ukraine obtains the provision of the long-awaited F-16 fighter planes for its counteroffensive)
Prigozhin introduced himself for the first time as the founder of Wagner, which since 2014 has fought in Ukraine, Syria and in African countries..
In October, he set up his offices in a luxurious glass building in St. Petersburg and began recruiting thousands of men from Russian prisons.
The offer made to the convicts was to fight in exchange for amnesty. With a caveat: deserters and those who allowed themselves to be captured would be executed.
When a video circulated of an alleged Wagner defector being executed with a sledgehammer, Prigozhin did not hesitate to praise the crime and call the murdered man a “dog”.
(Also read: The Russian justice decrees the dissolution of the Sakharov Center for Human Rights)
“Don’t drink a lot, don’t take drugs, don’t rape anyone,” he also told a group of prisoners who had fought for six months and regained their freedom.
Unlike Russian generals, criticized for not attending battles in person, Prigozhin gained prestige by posing with his mercenaries, supposedly on the front line.
(You can read: Russia imposes a fine on Google for content on YouTube about the invasion of Ukraine)
Earlier this year, he posted a message from the cockpit of an SU-24 fighter and challenged Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky to an aerial duel.
“If you want, see you in the air. If you win, you take (Bajmut).”
Prigozhin himself was imprisoned in Russia for nearly a decade at the end of the Soviet era and then was a hot dog vendor in St. Petersburg, before rising to rub shoulders with the upper echelons as a hotelier.
AFP
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