Ukraine rages on and Western allies pledge additional support for the next phase of the fight, one man has drawn attention as an outsized influence on the Russian side of the invasion.Yevgeny Prigozhin is the defacto leader of the Wagner Group, a private militia that has helped shape the war in Ukraine like few private entities have in the past.
The Wagner Group has been at the helm of the battle for Bakhmut, the bloodiest and longest of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has leaned heavily on their forces.But who are Prigozhin and the Wagner Group, and why are they so prominent in the conflict?What is known about 61-year-old Prigozhin suggests some aspects of similar upbringing to Putin.
Both come from St. Petersburg from relatively modest backgrounds and by all accounts learned to fend for themselves.Prigozhin, for one, began selling hotdogs in the city around the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s after a sordid past involving time in jail for theft, armed robbery and break and enter, according to University of Toronto professor Aurel Braun, who specializes in Russian history.He began opening restaurants and eventually started a catering business.
Putin is believed to have been one visitor to his restaurant in St. Petersburg. After becoming president in 2000, he began to take foreign dignitaries there, Braun also noted.Soon, Prigozhin had won major government catering contracts worth millions and grew closer to Putin, earning the nickname “Putin’s chef.”“He became an oligarch thanks to his close relationship with Putin,” Braun said.