Moscow: Yevgeny Prigozhin's fate has been intertwined with the Kremlin for decades. He was a dependable government contractor and the commander of the Wagner mercenary army, which fought in Ukraine and was accused of carrying out Russia's subversive activities in Syria and Africa.
However, many people in Russia and elsewhere began to wonder just how long he could survive after inciting the wrath of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he turned his men towards Moscow two months ago.
In exchange for a safe haven for himself and the rebellious men, Prigozhin struck a deal with Putin and the president of Belarus. He reportedly makes appearances in Russia on a regular basis and was seen earlier this week in a recruitment video. He was reportedly on board a plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, according to the Russian civil aviation agency.
Prigozhin's history: In 1981, Prigozhin was found guilty of robbery and assault and given a 12-year prison term. In the 1990s, after being released, he started a restaurant in St. Petersburg. At the time, Putin served as the city's deputy mayor. Prigozhin took advantage of his connections to launch a catering company and land lucrative government contracts in Russia, earning him the moniker "Putin's chef." Later, he branched out into other industries, such as media and a notorious Internet "troll factory," which resulted in his arrest in the US for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.
In the days and weeks following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, Wagner was first observed in action in eastern Ukraine shortly after a separatist conflict there broke out in April 2014. Even though there is ample evidence to the contrary, Russia at the time denied sending its own troops and weapons. Moscow had some level of defensibility thanks to the private Wagner army.
Personnel from Wagner was also sent to Syria, where Russia backed President Bashar Assad's administration in a civil war. They fought alongside Khalifa Haftar's forces in Libya. The group has also conducted operations in Mali and the Central African Republic.
But Prigozhin didn't acknowledge creating, running, and funding Wagner until September 2022. By that time, his mercenaries in Ukraine, many of whom he had recruited from Russian prisons, were fighting and dying in great numbers, particularly in the destroyed town of Bakhmut.
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A reputation for being honest: Wagner's reputation for ruthlessness was cultivated by Prigozhin, and Western nations and UN experts have accused the mercenaries of violating human rights across Africa, including in the Central African Republic, Libya, and Mali.
An online video from 2017 showed a group of armed individuals—possibly Wagner contractors—torturing and killing a Syrian with a sledgehammer before dismembering and burning the body.
Another video surfaced in 2022 depicting the alleged repatriation of an ex-Wagner contractor who had allegedly fled to the Ukrainian side being killed with a sledgehammer. The Kremlin repeatedly turned a blind eye in the face of public outrage and requests for investigations.
Ukraine's part for Wagner: As regular Russian troops suffered heavy casualties and suffered humiliating setbacks, Wagner became more and more visible in the Ukraine War. Prigozhin recruited soldiers by visiting Russian prisons and offering them pardons if they made it through a six-month stint serving alongside Wagner in the front lines.
He stated in the May interview that he had enlisted 50,000 prisoners, with 35,000 of them constantly on the front lines. Additionally, he claimed that the battle for Bakhmut cost him more than 20,000 men, half of whom were prisoners. According to US estimates, Wagner had 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, including 40,000 prisoners and 10,000 contractors.
Poking the bear: In January, Prigozhin declared victory over the Ukrainian salt mining town of Soledar and accused the Russian Defence Ministry of trying to steal Wagner's glory. He threatened to withdraw his troops and complained repeatedly that the Russian military had not given Wagner enough ammunition to capture Bakhmut.
Following the capture of Soledar, Prigozhin increased his public profile. For months, he boasted about Wagner's alleged victories, sarcastically made fun of his adversaries, and vented his frustrations about the military leadership in profanity-laced tirades.
On June 23, he ordered an armed uprising against the defence minister and began travelling with his mercenaries from Ukraine towards Moscow. His troops took over the military command in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia close to the Ukrainian border. They then continued their "march of justice," stopping just 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the Russian capital.
Prigozhin was labelled a traitor by Putin as the uprising developed. However, the criminal case against the mercenary chief was later dropped due to lack of evidence. Unusually, the Kremlin reported that days after the uprising, Putin met with the leaders of the Prigozhin and Wagner Group for three hours.
Wagner hired some mercenaries to go to Belarus, but it was still unknown what would become of Prigozhin and his army. Recently, US Vice President Joe Biden said Prigozhin was a wanted man. If I were him, I would watch what I ate. In the past month, Biden said, "I'd keep an eye on my menu.
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But in his most recent appearance on Monday, the man who made his first fortune as a caterer showed no signs of giving up, telling prospective Wagner recruits that his organisation was "making Russia even greater on all continents."