Decoding Prigo Ren
Overnight, the senior management of Wagner Group was almost completely wiped out.
According to Xinhua News Agency, on the 23rd local time, the Federal Air Transport Administration of the Russian Federation announced that a private plane crashed in the Tver Oblast of western Russia, killing all 7 passengers and 3 crew members on board, including Yevgeny Prigoren, founder of the Russian private military entity Wagner, and military leader Dmitry Utkin.
Prigoren seemed unaware of the potential danger. On that day, he flew back to Russia from Africa as planned, with all the main commanders of the Wagner Group accompanying him.
Two months ago, on June 23rd, Prigoren suddenly led his troops northward and occupied the Southern Military Region Command in Rostov on the Don River in the early hours of the 24th. Less than 24 hours later, a hasty "rebellion" whirlwind came to an end due to the intervention of Belarusian President Lukashenko - just like today's plane crash.
"Wagner mercenaries are conducting a reconnaissance operation to make Russia greater and Africa more free on all continents." On the 22nd, Prigoren, who was once lost after the "rebellion" incident, made a rare appearance in Africa. In a video posted by Wagner Group on social media, he wore camouflage clothing, held a rifle, and stood in the desert, shouting the above slogans.
An advertisement released by Wagner during the same period showed that they were recruiting experienced soldiers. Prigoren said, "The Wagner Group is looking for true warriors to continue completing the established tasks and the tasks we have promised to handle."
"Putin's Chef"
Sitting with 50000 troops, awarded the title of "Federal Hero", the protagonist of Bachmut's critical battle This used to be the peak moment for Prigoren. Since two months ago, this name, along with his disdainful gaze, has frequently entered the public eye.
But in fact, for a long time before that, Prigoren had been wandering on the margins of society.
In 1961, Prigoren was born in the delivery room of a hospital in the suburbs of Leningrad, former Soviet Union. His biological father was a mining engineer who passed away at the age of 9 in Prigo, and his mother raised him alone. Later, Primo's stepfather and sports coach Samuel Zarkoy sent him to an athletics boarding school. A document disclosed by American media about the life of Prigoren shows that he was supposed to be a very promising skier, but due to health reasons, he eventually left the sport.
In 1979, at the age of 18, Prigoren embarked on the path of crime. He was caught stealing and sentenced to two years and six months of probation. After undergoing renovation for two years, Prigoren was released early. Returning to Leningrad, he joined a gang and became more bold and fearless, even starting to block and rob. In 1981, Prigorn was sentenced to 12 years in prison for multiple charges including robbery, fraud, and instigation of juvenile delinquency.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union disintegrated and times changed dramatically. At this time, Prigorn was released from prison after serving nine years in prison for his good performance.
In the early days of his release, Prigoren made a living selling hot dogs with his mother and stepfather at the Aprashaka flea market in Leningrad.
Influenced by the social entrepreneurship trend at that time, Prigoren ventured into various industries, including retail, construction, marketing, foreign trade, etc. He also opened the first local casino in St. Petersburg.
Faced with rapidly growing wealth, Prigoren's ambition has also become increasingly inflated. In 1995, when revenue from other businesses began to decline, Prigoren chose to enter the catering industry, and it turned out that he had a natural talent for doing business.
The first restaurant he co founded with friends, Old Customs House, quickly gained a reputation for its "good taste" and was also favored by St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly and his deputy, current Russian President Putin.
In 1997, inspired by the restaurant on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, Prigoren spent $400000 to build a rusty ship into a fashion landmark - the "New Island" restaurant, in order to continue expanding his catering business. In 2001, the then new Russian President Putin and French President Chirac dined here. From this moment on, his fate may have been intertwined with Putin.
A person familiar with Prigoren once said, "He is very good at making stronger connections than himself.". Soon, Putin chose to hold his birthday party here again, and this St. Petersburg resident, Prigorn, who left a deep impression on him, later became a banquet supplier for the Kremlin and began providing catering services for schools and the military. It was also at this time that Prigo became known as Putin's chef.
Wagner Group
On the evening of August 23rd local time, the "Wagner Center" building in St. Petersburg, Russia, lit up a "cross", which was particularly eye-catching in the dark. Here, it was once a symbol of Prigoren's influence in Russian society.
On November 4, 2022, Russian National Unity Day, the new headquarters of Wagner Group was unveiled. These are two modern buildings decorated with glass curtain walls, 23 floors high, with the name of Wagner Group and the "W" logo on the entrance.
Previously, Prigoren had been unwilling to acknowledge his connection with Wagner. Until 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out completely, more details about this mysterious mercenary organization in Russia would emerge.
According to reports, Prigoren revealed in a letter to Russian Defense Minister Shoigu that he had been involved in a project to purchase ships for the Ministry of Defense around 2014, and several of his companies had also started participating in arms procurement for the Ministry of Defense and military regions.
"In order to protect the Russian residents in Donbass from genocide," Prigoren publicly admitted on social media for the first time on September 26, 2022 that he participated in the establishment of the Wagner Group and stated that his purpose in establishing this organization was to support the Russian military in the 2014 Donbass War.
According to Russian media reports, the Wagner Group began recruiting armed personnel as early as 2013. For many years, it has been engaged in military activities in Syria, Central Africa, Mali and other places, but has always been low-key.
Over the years, relying on the Wagner Group, Prigoren has risen from being a "chef of Putin" to a more core position. In addition to economic benefits, he has also gained political prestige that is difficult to obtain as a businessman. In 2018, approximately 1000 Wagner mercenaries entered the Central African Republic to resist rebel attacks on the country's capital, Bangui. In return, Prigoren's subsidiaries obtained unrestricted logging rights and control over gold mines.
In May 2022, more than 200 days after the fierce battle on the battlefield of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Wagner mercenaries completely captured the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakmut. Putin congratulated on this good news in a post.
But at this moment, some analysts suggest that the differences between the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Wagner Group have widened with this victory.
Starting with ambition, ending with ambition
"Prigoren's political ambitions may damage his relationship with the Kremlin," said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of Russian political analysis company r. politik.
If we say that the Wagner Group was the starting point for Prigorn's pursuit of power, and now it has also become his end point, Prigorn's life has experienced drastic ups and downs in the last two months.
With Wagner Group becoming the main force in the battlefield of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the friction between Prigoren and the Russian regular army has been exposed continuously. He has repeatedly accused the Russian military of poor command in the war.
When the Battle of Bachmut was raging, Prigoren angrily rebuked Russian Defense Minister Shoigu and Supreme Commander Grasimov in an audio clip, stating that their refusal to provide the necessary military resources was an attempt to "destroy" Wagner, causing heavy casualties for the unit.
He also publicly accused senior officials of the Russian government, saying, "They came here as volunteers without ammunition and had to wait to die. But you and your children were enjoying themselves in high-end clubs." In early May, Prigoren even threatened to withdraw troops from Bachmut.
It can be observed that Prigoren, who is adept at using social media, has successfully moved from behind the scenes to the front line, becoming a "key figure" on the Russian Ukrainian battlefield, and pinning the blame for the unsuccessful progress on the Russian Ministry of Defense and General Staff.
On June 10th, Deputy Minister of National Defense Pankov officially announced that all "volunteer forces" will sign contracts with the Ministry of National Defense before the end of this year and accept unified management by the Russian military. Shaoigu and Putin successively signed and approved the law to take effect. Prigoren issued an angry statement, refusing to sign any contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Finally, 13 days later, an irreconcilable conflict triggered a rebellion. Prigoren suddenly turned north with 25000 mercenaries, citing that the Russian Ministry of Defense had attacked the Wagner rear base. This brief rebellion farce ultimately ended with Lukashenko's mediation.
After the plane crash, many people did not believe that Prigo would still die in the plane crash. After all, he is good at confusing others, such as using personal information to check in on a crashed plane, but it is not uncommon for him to take another plane.
Currently, the Russian authorities are investigating the cause of the crash of Prigoren's private plane. According to Russian media reports, before the plane crash, there was no "rapid descent" in flight altitude, which means it may be related to external factors.
There are various speculations about who murdered Prigoren.
After the Prigoren plane crash, the telegraph channel "Grey Zone" with connections to Wagner reported that Prigoren was killed by "Russian traitors".
The response from the US side is also intriguing. US President Biden said in an interview on the 23rd, "I don't know what exactly happened, but I'm not surprised."
"In history, there were two types of mercenary leaders, one was aristocrats and the other was merchants. A typical scenario is that merchants formed their own troops, gained prestige in battle, and then became politicized, ultimately seen as a threat to the authorities and died." Georgetown University's war strategy professor Sean McFart, who had long-term contact with former mercenary practitioners of Wagner organization members, stated in a media interview that Prigoren was a typical merchant mercenary leader.
At the same time, many people speculate that the West is the mastermind behind the scenes. Someone said, "The United States, France, and Britain would be very willing to drive Prigoren out of Africa, while Ukrainian agents and Polish people who fear Wagner would be more willing to blow him up - many Westerners want this guy to die."
