From flea market hot dog seller to the head of a mercenary group behind a mutiny against the Russian military, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rise has been far from ordinary.
A former convict who spent much of his young life behind bars, he rose up to become close to Vladimir Putin.
He even earned himself the nickname “Putin’s chef” on account of his Kremlin-linked catering business.
But the 62-year-old boss of the mercenary Wagner Group now stands accused of open rebellion against Russiaby his close friend.
It is a situation some experts say has been a long time coming, particularly in light of Prigozhin’s incendiary remarks about Russia’s military leadership and his previous warning of a 1917-style rebellion.
But who is Prigozhin and how did we get to this point?
Crime and hot dogs
Born in 1961 in the city of Leningrad – now Saint Petersburg, Prigozhin had a difficult start in life, losing his father at a young age.
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He turned to crime in his teenage years, initially theft, but quickly escalating into more serious crimes. He was jailed for 12 years, aged 20, in 1981 after being convicted of robbery and fraud.
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5:32
Putin accuses Prigozhin of treason
“Prigozhin is a former conman – he was a thug,” according to Samantha de Bendern from the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
“He was put in prison in the 1980s for basically assaulting a woman in the street. He spent quite a number of years in the Soviet Union’s penitentiary system,” she told Sky News.
Prigozhin was pardoned in 1988 and released in 1990, when he began selling hot dogs at a flea market in Leningrad with his mother and stepfather.
He left prison during perestroika and glasnost – the period in the 1990s when Russia was opening up to the world after years of isolation under communism.
‘Putin’s butcher’ and joining the elite
Prigozhin later founded, or become involved in, many new businesses and in the 2000s, he grew closer to Putin.
“He very quickly got onto the private property/private enterprise bandwagon and ended up being a hot dog seller,” Ms de Bendern told Sky News.
“And this is where things become very mysterious because he transformed himself from hot dog seller to restaurateur to the grand and great of the new post-Soviet Russian elite.”
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Putin and Prigozhin’s relationship explained
According to a New York Times article in 2018, Prigozhin said the “rubles were piling up faster than his mother could count them”.
His companies won lucrative government contracts, including providing school lunches, and in Moscow alone his company Concord won millions of dollars in deals.
Prigozhin eventually became the caterer to a number of Russian state concerns, including the army – a deal which jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny claimed broke competition bidding rules.
He was also catered for a lot of state visits and met presidents and heads of state – including then-French president Jacques Chirac, who dined with Putin at one of his restaurants.
Image: Prigozhin in May as he prepared to hand over Bakhmut to the regular Russian army
His catering background and his work for the Kremlin earned Prigozhin the nickname “Putin’s chef” – or sometimes “Putin’s butcher”.
Prigozhin addressed the nickname earlier this year and denied he was ever a chef, saying “butcher” was more accurate.
“They could have just given me a nickname right away – Putin’s butcher, and everything would have been fine,” he said.
Coming out as Wagner leader
A once shadowy private military contractor (PMC), little was known about the Wagner Group’s formation and Prigozhin’s role was kept a closely guarded secret.
Experts believe it was likely set up to allow plausible deniability about Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine and Syria.
It is privately owned but its management and operations are “deeply intertwined” with the Russian military and intelligence community, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank.
The Russian government has previously denied involvement with the group and has insisted private military contractors are not legal in Russia.
Image: Prigozhin has released angry video rants at Russia’s military leaders
However, Putin recently praised Wagner’s capture of Bakhmut in what’s believed to be his first acknowledgment of the group.
The group came to the world’s attention in 2014 during the Donbas conflict, where it supported pro-Russian separatists in a coup, and for sneak attacks, reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering during the annexation of Crimea.
Wagner is also believed to have operated in countries in Africa – including Mali, Mozambique and Sudan – where it has been accused of human rights abuses by the EU.
Prigozhin previously denied any links to Wagner and even launched legal action against Western journalists who attempted to draw such a connection.
However, after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin went public and claimed he had founded the mercenary force in 2014.
Recruiting thousands of prisoners
Prigozhin’s influence has grown since the invasion and his forces have stepped out of the shadows to be used openly in combat.
In late March 2022, UK defence intelligence and US officials said Wagner Group had about 1,000 personnel in Donbas and eastern Ukraine.
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Then, in August, posters calling for recruits to join Wagner began to appear in Russian cities; while a month later, a video appeared which showed Prigozhin attempting to recruit prisoners.
By December, Wagner forces had swelled to 50,000, according to John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the White House’s National Security Council.
Around 40,000 were believed to be convicts and the rest contractors, he added.
“Wagner almost certainly now commands 50,000 fighters in Ukraine,” the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in January this year.
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3:48
How Prigozhin’s rebellion could impact Putin
Despite huge casualty rates, it has proved effective at delivering battlefield success – something the Russian army has struggled with.
Prigozhin’s forces were heavily involved in the capture of Bakhmut, one of the war’s bloodiest battles.
According to US figures, around 20,000 Russian troops were killed in the fighting, with around half thought to be from the Wagner Group.
While Prigozin has appeared to show compassion for the life of his mercenaries at times, he infamously appeared to revel in the brutal execution of a Wagner deserter with a sledgehammer.
“A dog receives a dog’s death,” said Prigozhin in response to the video, published in November last year.
‘Eat their guts in hell’ – Clashes with the Kremlin
While Wagner forces have made advances, the war has also given Prigozhin a chance to further his own political ambitions.
He has, on several occasions, made public his displeasure with the Russian military leadership, often in strongly-worded videos on social media.
Earlier this year, he accused the defence ministry of failing to provide enough ammunition to Wagner forces in Bakhmut and not providing cover for their flanks.
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Wagner leader claims Bakhmut victory
He even threatened to pull troops out if they were not resupplied.
“These are someone’s fathers and someone’s sons,” Prigozhin said at the time, as he shared a video of himself standing by the bodies of dead troops.
“The scum that doesn’t give us ammunition will eat their guts in hell.”
Earlier this month, Prigozhin arrived in Moscow with a contract which, in effect, attempted to formalise Wagner as an equivalent but separate military force to the Russian army.
Hours before his rebellion, he took aim at defence minister Shoigu – often the main target of his vitriol – as well as chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.
He also claimed Kremlin officials and oligarchs wanted the invasion of Ukraine to make money and advance their own careers.
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Russian mercenary hands over US and Turkish bodies
Prigozhin has often taken swipes at the Russian “elite”, who he claims have avoided the impact of the war while reaping the benefits.
In May, he warned the country would face turmoil if ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in coffins while those of the elite “shook their a***s” in the sun.
He also released a video in which he paid respect to foreign fighters who had fallen while fighting for Ukraine in Bakhmut by draping their coffins with their country’s flag – which some experts said was a ploy to boost his position among world leaders.
However, while critical of Kremlin officials, one thing Prigozhin has been careful to avoid is criticism of Putin himself.
“He is a product of the Kremlin,” said Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.
“He can be against part of the elite but at the same time, if he were against Putin, he would disappear overnight.”
Mark Galeotti of University College London, who specialises in Russian security affairs, said during his podcast In Moscow’s Shadows: “[Prigozhin] is 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.”
They rose to their feet in ecstatic surprise, shouting “heydar, heydar” – a Shia victory chant.
This was the first public appearance of their supreme leader since Israel began attacking their country.
He emerged during evening prayers in his private compound. He said nothing but looked stern and resolute as he waved to the crowd.
He has spent the last weeks sequestered in a bunker, it is assumed, for his safety following numerous death threats from Israel and the US.
His re-emergence suggests a return to normality and a sense of defiance that we have witnessed here on the streets of Tehran too.
Earlier, we had filmed as men in black marched through the streets of the capital to the sound of mournful chants and the slow beat of drums, whipping their backs with metal flails.
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1:39
Defiance on streets of Tehran
This weekend they mark the Shia festival of Ashura as they have for 14 centuries. But this year has poignant significance for Iranians far more than most.
The devout remember the betrayal and death of Imam Hussein as if it happened yesterday. We filmed men and women weeping as they worshipped at the Imamzadeh Saleh Shrine in northern Tehran.
The armies of the Caliph Yazid killed the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh-century Battle of Karbala.
Shiite Muslims mark the anniversary every year and reflect on the virtue it celebrates, of resistance against oppression and injustice.
But more so than ever in the wake of Israel and America’s attacks on their country.
The story is one of prevailing over adversity and deception. A sense of betrayal is keenly felt here among people and officials.
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Many Iranians believe they were lured into pursuing diplomacy as part of a ruse by the US.
Iran believed it was making diplomatic progress in talks with America it hoped could lead to a deal. Then Israel launched its attacks and, instead of condemning them, the US joined in.
Death to Israel chants resounded outside the mosque in skies which were filled for 12 days with the sounds of Israeli jets. There is a renewed sense of defiance here.
One man told us: “The lesson to be learned from Hussein is not to give in to oppression even if it is the most powerful force in the world.”
A woman was dismissive about the US president. “I don’t think about Trump, nobody likes him. He always wants to attack too many countries.”
Pictures on billboards nearby draw a line between Imam Hussein’s story and current events. The seventh-century imam on horseback alongside images of modern missiles and drones from the present day.
Other huge signs remember the dead. Iran says almost 1,000 people were killed in the strikes, many of them women and children.
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Officially Iran is projecting defiance but not closing the door to diplomacy.
Government spokeswoman Dr Fatemeh Mohajerani told Sky News that Israel should not even think about attacking again.
“We are very strong in defence and as state officials have announced, this time Israel will receive an even stronger response compared to previous times,” she said.
“We hope that Israel will not make such a mistake.”
But there is also a hint of conciliation: Senior Iranian officials have told Sky News that back-channel efforts are under way to explore new talks with the US.
Israel had hoped its attacks could topple the Iranian leadership. That proved unfounded, the government is in control here.
For many Iranians, it seems quite the opposite happened – the 12-day war has brought them closer together.
To the sound of mournful chants and the slow beat of drums, they march, whipping their backs with metal flails.
It is an ancient ceremony going back almost 14 centuries – the Shia commemoration of Ashura.
But this year in particular has poignant significance for Iranians.
The devout remember the betrayal and death of the Imam Hussein as if it happened yesterday.
Image: Iranians gather ahead of Ashura
We filmed men and women weep as they worshipped at the Imamzadeh Saleh Shrine in northern Tehran.
The grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was killed by the armies of the Caliph Yazid in the seventh century Battle of Karbala.
More on Iran
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Shia Muslims mark the anniversary every year and reflect on the virtue it celebrates – of resistance against oppression and injustice. But more so than ever this year, in the wake of Israel and America’s attacks on their country.
The story is one of prevailing over adversity and deception. A sense of betrayal is keenly felt here by people and officials.
Image: Men and women weeped as they worshipped at the Imamzadeh Saleh Shrine
Many Iranians believe they were lured into pursuing diplomacy as part of a ruse by the US.
Iran believed it was making diplomatic progress in talks with America, which it hoped could lead to a deal. Then Israellaunched its attacks and, instead of condemning them, the US joined in.
“Death to Israel” chants resounded outside the mosque in skies that for 12 days were filled with the sounds of Israeli jets.
There is a renewed sense of defiance here.
One man told us: “The lesson to be learned from Hussein is not to give in to oppression, even if it is the most powerful force in the world.”
Image: ‘I don’t think about Trump. Nobody likes him,’ one woman tells Sky News
A woman was dismissive about the US president.
“I don’t think about Trump. Nobody likes him. He always wants to attack too many countries.”
Pictures on billboards nearby link Imam Hussein’s story and current events. They show the seventh century imam on horseback alongside images of modern missiles and drones from the present day.
Other huge signs remember the dead. Iran says almost 1,000 people were killed in the strikes, many of them women and children.
Officially Iran is projecting defiance, but not closing the door to diplomacy.
Government spokeswoman Dr Fatemeh Mohajerani told Sky News that Israel should not even think about attacking again.
“We are very strong in defence, and as state officials have announced, this time Israel will receive an even stronger response compared to previous times. We hope that Israel will not make such a mistake.”
Image: Dr Fatemeh Mohajerani said it would be a mistake for Israel to attack again
But there is also a hint of conciliation. Senior Iranian officials have told Sky News back-channel efforts are under way to explore new talks with the US.
Israel had hoped its attacks could topple the Iranian leadership. Those hopes proved unfounded. The government is in control here.
For many Iranians it seems quite the opposite happened – the 12-day war has brought them closer together.
Two American security workers in Gaza were injured after grenades were thrown during food distribution in Khan Younis, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has said.
In a statement, the US and Israeli-backed aid group said a targeted terrorist attack was carried out at one of its sites in southern Gazaon Saturday morning.
The two Americans injured “are receiving medical treatment and are in stable condition,” it said, adding that the delivery of aid was “otherwise successful” and that “no local aid workers or civilians were harmed”.
GHF didn’t say exactly when the incident happened but claimed Hamaswas behind the attack, adding: “GHF has repeatedly warned of credible threats from Hamas, including explicit plans to target American personnel, Palestinian aid workers, and the civilians who rely on our sites for food.
“Today’s attack tragically affirms those warnings.”
Later, the aid group posted a picture on social media, which it said showed “fragments of a grenade packed with ball bearings” that was used in the attack.
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Asked by Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, whether the two injured individuals were responsible for handing out aid or were responsible for providing security, GHF said they were “American security workers” and “two American veterans.”
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The aid group did not provide specific evidence that Hamas was behind the attack.
The US and Israeli-backed group has been primarily responsible for aid distribution since Israel lifted its 11-week blockade of the Gaza Strip in May.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, 600 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid from GHF sites as of 3 July, which charities and the UN have branded “death traps”.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported that Israeli-backed American contractors guarding GHF aid centres in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades.
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1:34
Contractors allege colleagues ‘fired on Palestinians’
GHF has vehemently denied the accusations, adding that it investigated AP’s allegations and found them to be “categorically false”.
Israel’s military added that it fires only warning shots and is investigating reports of civilian harm.
It denies deliberately shooting at any innocent civilians and says it’s examining how to reduce “friction with the population” in the areas surrounding the distribution centres.