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Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader Russia accused of mounting a coup? [1]

['Anton Troianovski', 'Ben Shpigel', 'Gaya Gupta']

Date: 2023-06-23

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin became rich through his personal ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, winning lucrative catering and construction contracts with the Russian government while building a mercenary force known as Wagner.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he threw his fighters into the fray, as their ranks swelled with prisoner recruits. In recent months, Mr. Prigozhin (pronounced pree-GOH-zhin) has also emerged as a public power player, using social media to turn tough talk and brutality into his personal brand. At the same time, though, he began launching accusations at Russia’s military leadership, blaming it for failing to provide his forces with enough ammunition and ignoring soldiers’ struggles.

But until Friday — when Russian generals accused Mr. Prigozhin of mounting a coup — Mr. Putin had not checked Mr. Prigozhin’s online accusations, despite jailing or fining many other critics of the war.

Spewing vulgarities, disregarding the law and displaying loyalty to no one but Mr. Putin, Mr. Prigozhin, a businessman known as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering contracts with the Kremlin and Russian military, has become a symbol of wartime Russia: ruthless, shameless and lawless. It was a significant turnabout for Mr. Prigozhin, who acknowledged only last fall that he had founded Wagner.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/world/europe/yevgeny-prigozhin-russia-wagner-coup.html?name=styln-russia-ukraine&region=TOP_BANNER&block=storyline_menu_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=undefined

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