COOKING UP A STORM

THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN BUILT UP HIS EMPIRE AND GOT CLOSE TO PUTIN, AND WHAT FORCED HIM TO CHALLENGE HIS BENEFACTOR

- KSENIA KONDRATIEVA

Just a few days after Russia experienced a brief turmoil that saw fighters of the Wagner group marching towards Moscow, the mercenary group’s name was removed from the glossy facade of its headquarters in Saint Petersburg. Some organisations associated with its now exiled chief Yevgeny Prigozhin are being shut down and contracts with some others are getting cancelled. The recruitment to Wagner has been put on hold in some of the 40-odd centres the company has opened up across Russia.

The immediate trigger behind Prigozhin’s downfall started early in the morning on June 24, when he released a video from Russia’s southern city of Rostov, stating that his fighters have taken control of the city. Rostov residents who wanted to leave found the train station really crowded and no tickets available. Many, however, ventured out on to the streets and even did photo sessions with Wagner fighters and their weaponry. By the time the bulk of the mercenaries started leaving Rostov some 12 hours later, following Prigozhin’s announcement that he ordered his troops back to the camps as he did not want “Russian blood to be shed”, many people could be seen cheering the fighters and sending them flying kisses.

Images of a Wagner tank stuck at the gates of the city circus, adjacent to the defence headquarters building, was probably one of the most shared pictures of the ‘coup’. It was symbolic, too, as hours after the attempted coup was called off, many Russians would start referring to it just as a “circus”. As an online commentator noted, “When was the last time Rostov saw tanks rolling in? During the Nazi occupation? There won’t be such a chance in the future,” he said, explaining why most people were excited at seeing Wagner’s troops.