Yevgeny Prigozhin: The former hot dog seller and thug who became Wagner boss at centre of mutiny
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.
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But the 62-year-old boss of the mercenary Wagner Group now stands accused of open rebellion against Russia by 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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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Prigozhin a disaster waiting to happen – analysis
Putin accuses mercenary boss of treason
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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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.”
President Joe Biden has warned of a “dangerous concentration of power” among a few wealthy people in the United States in his farewell address to the nation.
Without naming president-elect Donald Trump, Mr Biden said: “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
During his speech from the Oval Office in the White House, the president said there was “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people” and warned of “dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked”.
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Joe Biden’s farewell speech in full
Although he did not give names, some of the world’s richest individuals and tech titans have flocked to Mr Trump’s side, particularly since his election win in November.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, spent more than $100m helping Mr Trump get elected, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos have also donated to Mr Trump’s inauguration.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Pic: AP
While Mr Biden was giving his speech, Mr Trump, Mr Musk and vice president-elect JD Vance dined with Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella at Mar-a-Lago, according to news outlet Semafor.
During his address Mr Biden also warned of a “tech-industrial complex” he said was bringing an “avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power”, following social media company Meta scrapping its fact-checking programme in the US and loosening its hate speech guidelines.
The president said the US Constitution should be amended to say no president should have immunity for crimes committed in office, after the Supreme Court granted Mr Trump protection last year from criminal liability over his role in trying to undermine his loss to Mr Biden in 2020.
Analysis: Trump doing his best to undermine Biden as outgoing president tries to polish his legacy
Biden takes credit for Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
Mr Biden also took credit for the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that will see the release of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
“This plan was developed and negotiated by my team, and it will be largely implemented by the incoming administration,” he said.
“That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that’s how it should be – working together as Americans.”
He made the remarks after Mr Trump claimed credit for the breakthrough in negotiations
During his farewell speech Mr Biden said: “It will take time to feel the impact of all we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come.”
Mr Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris. Pic: AP
Mr Biden beat Mr Trump to become president in 2020, but decided to run for re-election in 2024 at the unprecedented age of 80.
He was later forced out of the race following a disastrous debate with Mr Trump and his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, went on to lose every battleground state to Mr Trump.
World
Sir Keir Starmer to sign 100-year ‘friendship’ deal with Ukraine in first Kyiv visit since becoming PM
Keir Starmer will sign a century-long partnership with Ukraine today, as the prime minister makes his first visit to the war-torn country in an effort to shore up support for Kyiv – just days ahead of the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House.
Sir Keir said the 100-year agreement underpinned Britain’s “steadfast support” for Ukraine as he reiterated European unity in the face of Russian aggression. The treaty and political declaration will be laid in parliament in the coming weeks.
“Putin’s ambition to wrench Ukraine away for its closest partners has been a monumental strategic failure. Instead, we are closer than ever and this partnership will take that friendship to the next level,” said the prime minister.
“The power of our long-term friendships cannot be underestimated. Supporting Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s barbaric invasion and rebuild a prosperous, sovereign future, is vital to the government’s security and Plan for Change.”
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The PM’s visit is part of a wider effort on the part of European leaders to shore up support for Kyiv as they ramp up discussions over regional security ahead of the handover of power in Washington. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland on Wednesday.
The flurry of diplomatic activity comes as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has intensified ahead of the inauguration of president-elect Trump, with Vladimir Putin trying to take as much territory as possible ahead of expected peace talks.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s state energy company was forced into emergency cuts after a massive Russian military attack.
Russia controls around a fifth of Ukraine after nearly three years of war and says any deal to end the conflict must take that into account.
In September 2022, it proclaimed four regions that it only partly controls as part of its own territory, which was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as an “attempted illegal annexation”.
While President Joe Biden was steadfast in the US’s continuing support of Ukraine’s military effort, Trump has made it clear he wants to end the conflict quickly, hastening discussions about what a settlement might look like between Kyiv and Moscow.
In November, President Zelenskyy said for the first time in an interview with Sky News that Ukraine was prepared to temporarily cede territory to Russia to end the war if the conflict was frozen along current lines.
He added after a ceasefire was agreed, Kyiv could negotiate for the return of seized territory.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to Sky’s Stuart Ramsay in Kyiv back in November about how a ceasefire could work.
Sir Keir has also changed his tone, from insisting allies must “double down” on support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes” at the November G20 summit, to saying British policy was now “to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations”.
The prime minister will want to reiterate to President Zelenskyy that nothing is off the table, as the duo discuss the ongoing conflict, the impending Trump presidency and what a settlement could look like.
As part of the partnership deal, the UK will bolster military collaboration on maritime security through a new framework to strengthen the Baltic, Black and Azov seas.
President Zelenskyy has reportedly told journalists the two leaders will discuss the possibility of British troops joining a post-war peacekeeping force, as other European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron – who visited the PM at his Chequers country residence last week – and Tusk have similar conversations.
Ukraine relies on US support to continue the conflict, given it provides the bulk of military aid. But Trump has made it clear he is reluctant to keep funding the war, saying during the election campaign he would end it “within 24 hours” of taking office.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Downing Street back in October.
He has subsequently acknowledged that ending the conflict will be more difficult, but his administration is keen to press ahead: Trump has said he will arrange a call with Putin soon after his inauguration on 20 January, while the new US envoy to Ukraine, retired lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, said last week he wanted a solution to the war in the first 100 days of office.
The discussion around peacekeeping forces is part of a wider conversation among European allies about what security guarantees should be put in place for Ukraine, including buffer zones and the threat of more weapons for Ukraine in the absence of NATO membership.
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President Zelenskyy has said any guarantees must be backed up by the US as the prospect of a NATO membership invitation fades from view.
Ukraine becoming a member of NATO is a clear red line for Moscow, with Putin describing Kyiv joining the security alliance as “an unacceptable threat”.
Last week, Trump acknowledged Moscow’s longstanding opposition to Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO, given it would mean “Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I can understand their feeling about that”.
European leaders are concerned Trump will force Ukraine into an unjust peace deal, and they will be shut out of the negotiations which will shape the security of the continent for many years.
NATO chief Mark Rutte last month cautioned Trump over his plans for a peace deal, warning it would lead to the West’s enemies “high fiving” and would only serve to embolden China, North Korea and Iran.
The PM has come under criticism from Conservative rivals for not visiting Ukraine sooner, with former defence secretary Grant Shapps saying he was “astonished” is has taken the PM six months in power to visit the country.
However, Sir Keir has met the Ukrainian leader six times, as well as hosting him twice at Number 10 since taking office in July.
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