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Yevgeny Prigozhin
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Prigozhin in 2023

Leader of the Wagner Group
In office 22 February 2014 \u2013 23 August 2023
Military commander	Dmitry Utkin
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Pavel Prigozhin^[1]
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Personal details
Born	(1961-06-01)1 June 1961 Leningrad, Soviet Union
Died	23 August 2023(2023-08-23) (aged 62) Kuzhenkino, Tver Oblast, Russia
Cause of death	Airplane crash
Resting place	Porokhovskoye Cemetery [ru]
Spouse	Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina
Children	3, including Pavel
Education	Leningrad Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute (dropped out)
Awards	Hero of the Russian Federation Order of the Republic (Sudan) Order of the Two Niles
Nickname	Putin's chef
Military service
Allegiance	Russia
Commands	Wagner Group
Battles/wars	\n Russo-Ukrainian War\n Russian invasion of Ukraine\n Battle of Bakhmut \n Battle of Soledar \n Wagner Group rebellion \n
Business information
Organizations	Wagner Group Internet Research Agency Concord Management and Consulting
\n Criminal information
Criminal status	Wanted by the FBI for electoral interference

Criminal charge	\n 1979: theft \n 1981: robbery, fraud, involving minors in crime^[2]^[3]^[4] \n 2018: conspiracy to defraud the United States \n 2023: incitement to armed rebellion in Russia (dropped) \n
Penalty	\n Suspended sentence (1979) \n 12-year imprisonment (served 1981\u20131990) \n
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Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin^[a]^[b] (1 June 1961 \u2013 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch.^[5] He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a rebellion in June 2023.^[6] Prigozhin was sometimes referred to as \"Putin's chef\" because he owned restaurants and catering businesses that provided services to the Kremlin.^[7] Once a convict in the Soviet Union,^[8] Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were \"tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU\".^[9]\n

In 2014, Prigozhin reportedly founded the Wagner Group^[10]^[11]^[12] to support Russian separatist forces in Ukraine. Funded by the Russian state, it played a significant role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supported Russian interests in Syria and in Africa. In November 2022, Prigozhin acknowledged his companies' interference in United States elections.^[13] In February 2023, he confirmed that he was the founder and long-time manager of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company running online propaganda and disinformation campaigns.\n

Prigozhin's companies and associates, and formerly Prigozhin himself, are subject to economic sanctions and criminal charges in the United States^[14] and the United Kingdom.^[15] In October 2020, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against Prigozhin for his financing of the Wagner Group's activities in Libya. In April 2022, the EU imposed further sanctions on him for his role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[16] The FBI offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to Prigozhin's arrest.^[17]^[18]\n

Prigozhin openly criticized the Russian Defense Ministry for corruption and mishandling the war against Ukraine. Eventually, he said the reasons they gave for invading were lies.^[19] On 23 June 2023, he launched a rebellion against the Russian military leadership. Wagner forces captured Rostov-on-Don and advanced toward Moscow.^[20] The rebellion was called off the following day, and the criminal charges against Prigozhin were dropped after he agreed to relocate his forces to Belarus.^[21] On 23 August 2023, exactly two months after the rebellion,^[22] Prigozhin was killed along with nine other people when a business jet crashed in Tver Oblast, north of Moscow.^[23] The Wall Street Journal cited sources within the US government as saying that the crash was likely caused by a bomb on board or \"some other form of sabotage\".^[24]^[25] Since then, researchers and other analysts have reached the conclusion that an on-board bomb or explosive likely downed the plane.^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]\n

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Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	VIAF 2
National	Germany United States Czech Republic Poland
Other	IdRef

Early life and education

Criminal history and imprisonment

Early career and rise to prominence

Wagner Group

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Conflict with Russian Ministry of Defense

Prigozhin as a populist critic

June 2023 rebellion

Africa interests

Internet Research Agency

Spin-offs

International sanctions

U.S. criminal charges

Financial support for Maria Butina in 2019

Personal life

Death

Awards

Memorials

See also

Notes

References

External links