logo
Slain Wagner chief Prigozhin lives on as symbol of Putin's fragility

Slain Wagner chief Prigozhin lives on as symbol of Putin's fragility

Times22-06-2025
A few months before he died in a plane crash after his aborted mutiny against Moscow in the summer of 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries, laughed when asked about his attitude to death. 'We will all go to hell, but we will be the best in hell,' he said.
Two years later, if Prigozhin is observing from the underworld, he is unlikely to approve of the fate that has since befallen his private mercenary group, which was once praised by President Putin for its role in the war in Ukraine. It has been largely dismantled and brought under the control of the Kremlin, while any mention of Prigozhin's name is now taboo on state television. Wagner's headquarters in St Petersburg, Prigozhin's home town, has also been closed down.
'What we understood as the Wagner Group ceased to exist at the very moment when the plane carrying Prigozhin crashed,' said Denis Korotkov, a Russian opposition journalist and co-author of Our Business is Death: The Story of the Wagner Group.
'All the scraps and fragments that remain from this organisation, what remains of its brand, are being used [by Moscow] for an array of purposes, but it can't be compared in any respect to what it used to be: Wagner is no longer an independent entity. It was able to exist solely because of Prigozhin's special relationship with Putin and with some others in power,' Korotkov said.
Wagner after Prigozhin
A catering tycoon who was once known as 'Putin's chef', Prigozhin rose from owning hot dog stands in St Petersburg in the early 1990s to worldwide notoriety. He attempted to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections that brought President Trump to power and his thugs targeted Kremlin critics.
His Concord company provided dinners for schools and nurseries in Moscow as well as the Russian defence ministry. But it was Wagner that made him a household name in Russia.
Tens of thousands of convicts were freed from Russian prisons to swell Wagner's ranks at the front in Ukraine, often after a personal visit by Prigozhin, who served nine years for assault and robbery during the Soviet era. The group was instrumental in some of Russia's biggest successes of the war, including the capture of Bakhmut, the town in eastern Ukraine that became known as the 'meat grinder'.
Prigozhin's rebellion in June 2023, during which his heavily armed mercenaries came within striking distance of Moscow, was sparked by a vicious row with Russian defence chiefs. It was an unprecedented c hallenge to Putin's rule and one that signalled the beginning of the end for Prigozhin.
After retreating from the Russian capital having made a deal with the Kremlin, thousands of Wagner fighters headed to neighbouring Belarus, where they were allowed to set up training camps for new operations in Africa. The camps are long gone, although some of Wagner's former fighters are believed to be training the Belarusian security services as private contractors.
Wagner also said last year that it was no longer in action in Ukraine. However, many returned to the front as part of the regular Russian army after Putin urged them to swear an oath of allegiance to Moscow.
Pavel Prigozhin, the late Wagner leader's 27-year-old son, was believed to have inherited the leadership of the mercenary group, as well as more than £100 million in assets, yet there are few, if any, indications that he plays an active role in its remaining operations.
A potent brand
While there is no direct evidence that Putin was involved in Prigozhin's death, it is believed that his plane was blown up on the Kremlin's orders as revenge for his rebellion. All ten people on board, including Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin's right-hand man, were killed when the plane plummeted to the ground in the Tver region, about 200 miles from Moscow in August 2023, exactly two months after the Wagner mutiny.
Putin has suggested that the crash was caused by Prigozhin and other commanders drinking and using drugs while handling grenades on board the luxury jet. However, Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner commander, told The Times that he had never seen Prigozhin or Utkin drink or take drugs.
Despite the neutralisation of Wagner as an independent force, the group's name remains a rallying symbol for supporters of the war in Ukraine, both in Russia and in the West, said Candace Rondeaux, the author of Putin's Sledgehammer, a new book about Prigozhin and his mercenary group.
'The [Wagner] brand remains very potent, especially for young men who are disaffected, who are looking for a way to prove themselves,' she told Times Radio. Russia's GRU military intelligence service had sought to 'rebrand and relabel the Wagner Group' as an instrument for recruiting disaffected westerners for sabotage attacks, she added.
This month two British men admitted setting fire to warehouses in London that were holding aid for Ukraine on behalf of the Wagner Group. Korotkov said, however, that it was extremely unlikely that there were any independent figures within Wagner who would be able to give the orders for such an operation. 'It's likely the brand is just being used by various [Russian] security structures,' he added.
The scramble for Africa
Three weeks before his death, Prigozhin shared a video address filmed — pointedly — in Africa, the jewel of the Wagner empire. Wearing camouflage and clutching a rifle, he told the camera: 'We are working, the temperature is 50 degrees — everything we love.' Shared on Wagner-linked Telegram channels, the footage was both a recruitment pitch and a bullish statement of intent.
After Wagner's arrival in Africa in 2017, beginning in Sudan, it became a powerful tool of Russian influence. It offered military training, regime protection and anti-western disinformation that often outpaced even Moscow's ambitions. In return, Wagner was paid not just in cash but in gold and mining concessions — a model so lucrative it helped bankroll Russia's war in Ukraine and prompted the US to designate it an organised crime group.
After Prigozhin's death, Moscow moved quickly to replace his mercenaries with the newly minted Africa Corps, under GRU control. Commanders were ordered to swear loyalty to the state or face consequences. By January 2024, Africa Corps had boots on the ground — its first confirmed deployment was to Burkina Faso. The shift is more than cosmetic. Wagner offered deniability; Africa Corps signals a bolder, state-backed approach.
However, Russians show no sign of forgetting Prigozhin or Wagner: memorials and even statues have been unveiled across Russia, while online shops sell Wagner-themed children's toys, pillows, cups and T-shirts. The memory of his rebellion, while unsuccessful, has also provided a shred of hope to Russia's exiled opposition movement.
'As long as Putin is in power, we are unlikely to find out what exactly happ­ened to Prigozhin. But does it really matter? The question of who and when someone will decide to follow in his footsteps is much more important,' said Daria Firyan, a presenter for the Khodorkovsky Live opposition media outlet.
'Such rebellions are possible … those people who were sent to Kyiv yesterday can turn around tomorrow and head to Moscow. And the authorities will not be able to do anything.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Russia and Ukraine trade worst blows after peace talks fail in Battle of Black Sea
Russia and Ukraine trade worst blows after peace talks fail in Battle of Black Sea

Daily Mirror

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mirror

Russia and Ukraine trade worst blows after peace talks fail in Battle of Black Sea

Ukrainian drones pummelled the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi - where Vladimir Putin is building his own palace - as Russia's bombs rocked the Ukrainian resort of Odesa Ukraine and Russia struck each other's most popular seaside resorts in major attacks as peace talks broke up in Istanbul. ‌ Major city Sochi - where Vladimir Putin is building a new palace after tearing down his old one - was hit by massive explosions striking oil depots, railway warehouses, and damaging a key road link. Footage shows the dramatic drone attacks which hit Kremlin-run Sirius Federal Territory, in Sochi, where discussions were reportedly held on sending Putin's young children, aged ten and five, to an elite school. ‌ One woman was killed and several wounded as a Russian S-400 air defence missile misfired and hit a residential building in the country's premier resort. Russia suffered around 100 flight delays as Sochi's airport was closed due to the drones. ‌ Tourists were seen huddling in the underground car park of elite five star hotels in the city in the first major Ukrainian strike on Sochi in almost two years, which involved Lyutyi‑196 long range drones. The Lukoil-Yugnefteprodukt oil depot exploded in flames in Sirius Federal Territory where head of administration Dmitry Plishkin urged people not to go out. ‌ Meanwhile, Odesa faced Russia's latest Putin strikes on civilians with a nine-storey residential building destroyed, and the city's iconic Privoz Market engulfed in flames. At least three people were injured in Odesa but the casualties were expected to rise. ‌ Apartments from the 5th to the 8th floors of the residential building were destroyed, with fires on the stairwells, as dozens of terrorised residents were evacuated. 'Odesa experienced another hellish night,' said Ukraine 's state emergency service. 'The Russians massively attacked the city with strike drones.' ‌ The obliterated landmark market dates from 1827, and locals say of it: 'Odesa begins from Privoz.' It is considered the city's heart - the soul and hub of humour, gossip, and local colour. ‌ 'There is damage to architectural monuments in the historic centre of Odesa, which is under UNESCO protection,' said the head of the regional administration, Oleh Kiper. Russia also hit Mykolaiv, with drones striking two enterprises overnight, causing major fires. And seven people, including a child, were injured in a Russian missile attack on Cherkasy. ‌ The Black Sea strikes came after perfunctory peace talks in Istanbul in which Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said the two sides were 'quite far from each other'. There was agreement on future exchanges of prisoners, including civilians, but little sign of a breakthrough towards ending the war. The Ukrainians demanded Putin agree to a ceasefire and face to face talks with Zelensky to end the war. Kyiv's leading negotiator Rustem Umerov said: 'We are now waiting for the ceasefire and the start of substantive peace negotiations. And it is up to the other side to take this basic step on the path to peace. We emphasise that the ceasefire must be real. It must include a complete halt to strikes on civilian and critically important infrastructure.'

Idaho murder files reveal the victim who no longer looked human after Bryan Kohberger's horrific knife killings
Idaho murder files reveal the victim who no longer looked human after Bryan Kohberger's horrific knife killings

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Idaho murder files reveal the victim who no longer looked human after Bryan Kohberger's horrific knife killings

was so badly multilated by Bryan Kohbger's murderous knife attack that she looked 'unrecognizable' by the time he'd finished with her. 'I was unable to comprehend exactly what I was looking at while trying to discern the nature of the injuries,' a cop wrote in newly-released files on the 2022 Idaho murders in the wake of Kohberger's sentencing Wednesday. Goncalves, 21, was stabbed a total of 34 times, with many of those wounds left on her face at the student home where she lived in Moscow. Unlike Kohberger's other three victims, who only had stab wounds, Golcalves also suffered blunt force injuries. The distressing new information emerged in previously-sealed Moscow Police Department files into the killings of Goncalves and friends Xana Kenodle, Maddie Mogen and Ethan Chapin. Another officer on the scene described seeing Kernodle's body on her bedroom covered in blood, with defensive wounds to her hands, including a deep gash between her finger and thumb. She was stabbed more than 50 times. 'It was obvious an intense struggle had occurred,' the officer wrote. 'There was blood smeared on various items in the room and all over the floor.' Kernodle's boyfriend Chapin was found partially covered with a blanket in her bed, with his jugular severed, the police files said. On the floor above, officers found the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves. Mogen had wounds to her forearm, hands and a gash from her right eye to her nose. Both were covered in blood, which had soaked the pink blanket they were sharing. Kohberger left behind a Ka-Bar leather knife sheath next to Mogen's body. DNA on the clasp was traced back to the killer using Investigative Genetic Genealogy. The police files also revealed the victims saw a man lurking in the trees outside their home and found their front door mysteriously open one month before the killer struck. Goncalves had told at least two friends that she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home. Surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen - who bravely spoke out in Wednesday's sentencing hearing - told police Goncalves described seeing the 'shadow' when she took her pet dog Murphy outside. Another friend echoed this accounts, telling police Goncalves had seen a dark figure staring at her from the tree line when taking Murphy outside. Mortensen, who was 19 at the time, also recalled one time when she came home to find the door to their three-story house open. It is not clear if the incidents are related and if it is possible Kohberger was carrying out a practice run for the murders one month later. It is also unclear if the man Goncalves saw was Kohberger surveilling the victims' home, or if he may have broken into the home prior to the night of his attack. But the details of these bizarre incidents come as prosecutors have been able to confirm Kohberger was surveilling the home for some time. From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, Kohberger's phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night. Despite his guilty plea and sentencing, the killer's motive and target for the murders remain a mystery. Speaking at a press conference after the sentencing, Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne told reporters that while they know Kohberger 'targeted' that house, they still don't know why. 'The evidence suggested that there was a reason that this particular house was chosen. What that reason is, we don't know,' he said. Investigators also remain in the dark about whether one or more of the victims inside the home was his intended target.

Kazakh Black Sea oil exports resume as tankers given access, sources say
Kazakh Black Sea oil exports resume as tankers given access, sources say

Reuters

time2 hours ago

  • Reuters

Kazakh Black Sea oil exports resume as tankers given access, sources say

MOSCOW, July 24 (Reuters) - Russia's FSB security service has started handing out clearance for foreign tankers to access the Black Sea ports, allowing for Kazakhstan's oil exports to resume after they were halted for nearly a day, four industry sources said on Thursday. The suspension led to the disruption of around 2% of global supply and drove international oil prices to almost $70 a barrel on Thursday before they pared gains. Russian regulations mean foreign ships require the approval of Russia's FSB security service to access the country's ports. The new law was signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday and came into effect after a decision by the European Union at the end of last week to impose further sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Two industry sources said on Wednesday foreign tankers were being temporarily barred from loading at Russia's main Black Sea ports. That effectively halted oil exports from Kazakhstan via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium that connects Kazakhstan's oil fields with export markets. Shareholders of the CPC include U.S. majors Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab and ExxonMobil (XOM.N), opens new tab. None of the source Reuters spoke to could be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly. Kazakhstan's energy ministry said the country's pipeline operator KazTransOil was in talks with the oil terminal owner over operations and additional security measures in the Russian Baltic Sea's port of Ust-Luga. The ministry did not elaborate. An industry source, familiar with the matter, said the talks related to the additional costs for the Russian insurance coverage and divers' inspections. Black Sea CPC Blend oil exports from the CPC terminal in Russia were set at 1.66 million barrels per day for August, or about 6.5 million metric tons, almost unchanged from the July export plan, Reuters reported last week. Exports and oil transit via Novorossisk are expected to be around 2.2 million metric tons in July, according to industry sources. Supplies from Novorossisk and the CPC terminal together account for around 2% of global oil supplies. Adding to nervousness on international oil markets about supplies, BP (BP.L), opens new tab said on Thursday that contaminants were detected in some of the oil tanks at Turkey's BTC Ceyhan terminal. It said however that loadings continued from other reservoirs.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store