Full name
Prigozhin Yevgeny
Prigozhin Yevgeny Date of Birth
1 June 1961
Prigozhin Yevgeny Citizenship
Russia
Prigozhin Yevgeny Professional field/official position
Russian businessman
Prigozhin Yevgeny biography
PRIGOZHIN Yevgeny Viktorovich (b.1961) is a Russian businessman, owner of the catering businesses, linked to the internet “troll factory” and a mercenary group Wagner. Born in Leningrad, in 1979, at the age of 18 he was sentenced for stealing and in 1981 he was also sentenced to twelve years imprisonment under articles of robbery, fraud, and involving teenagers in prostitution, spending nine years behind the bars. After release from imprisonment, in 1990, he started his fast-food business which later evolved into a restaurant and catering empire.
Prigozhin’s restaurants were in demand among the St. Petersburg political and criminal elite, and so he met with Vladimir Putin. Following Putin, he moved to Moscow and took up catering contracts for public schools and the Russian army. In 2012, his companies got over 90% of catering contracts in military units. Yevgeny Prigozhin often referred to as “the Putin’s cook” for his sumptuous banquets at the inauguration of President Putin. In addition to the restaurant and catering business, Yevgeny Prigozhin also participates in large-scale construction and media projects. In 2014, Prigozhin created the Federal News Agency — one of the largest pro-Kremlin media holdings in Russia.
Prigozhin Yevgeny crimes
Financing and coordinating the system of state propaganda, misinformation, and fake news, supporting illegal armed groups, meddling in foreign elections, corruption, and murder.
According to the Investigation Management Center, Prigozhin was involved in a murder. In 2004, the FSB opened a case on the death of Dmitri Sokolov, who drowned after a conflict with Yevgeny Prigozhin. On August 15, 2004, Yevgeny Prigozhin hit Dmitri Sokolov, outraged that Sokolov boarded his restaurant-ship New Island without permission. Sokolov fell into the water and drowned. It is noteworthy that criminal cases on Sokolov’s death disappeared shortly.
