From friend to traitor, this is how the bond between Vladimir Putin and the deceased leader of the Wagner group was born

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised today that the causes of the accident of the private jet in which the head of the Wagner group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, crashed in central Russia this Wednesday would be investigated.

As if he didn’t remember that the leader of the mercenaries ordered a mutiny against him almost two months ago. At a meeting at the Kremlin, the Russian leader praised Prigozhin’s figure, calling him “a talented man”, although some voices openly accuse President Vladimir Putin of being behind the plane crash.

“The impression was that it would end badly, because (the Kremlin) does not forgive,” a source close to the Russian presidency told digital Meduza.

Putin’s chef

Putin and Prigozhin are of relatively humble origins. The now-defunct head of the Wagner mercenary group was born on June 1, 1961 and grew up in the toughest neighborhoods of St. Petersburg, the birthplace of the Russian president.

Prigozhin met Putin when the former had managed to move from selling sausages on the street to a restaurant chain in St Petersburg within a few months after being pardoned from prison in 1990, where he spent nearly a decade for various crimes. Putin was then one of the deputy mayors of the city responsible for issuing the licenses for gastronomic establishments, and they became friends.

When Putin moved to Moscow and consolidated his power, he called on Prigozhin to take charge of the concessions for all Kremlin restaurants and other official offices. it comes from there the nickname of “Putin’s chef”.

However, Prigozhin changed companies and became a full-time mercenary in several war scenarios such as the Syrian war and various armed conflicts on the African continent, such as Mali, where he ordered local troops to protect the government, an action that was subject to strong controversy.

Prighozin has long denied creating Wagner. until in September 2022, in the middle of the war in Ukraine, he acknowledged that in 2014 he had created this private military company, which is prohibited by law in Russia, but he assured that he was born as a group of patriots.

Support for Russia in Ukraine

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, Prigozhin recruited 35,000 prisoners who were released to fight alongside Russian forces.

But with the passage of time and also in the context of the war, he had hard confrontations with the Russian Defense Ministry.

Prigozhin blamed the military leadership for the shortage of grenades, with graphic videos and abusive rants on social media exposing the flaws and rifts within the Russian military in Ukraine.

In a long speech on June 23, he told the Russians that the entire justification for their war was a lie and simply an excuse for “a small group of bastards” to promote themselves and mislead the public and the president (Putin).

Considered a traitor by Vladimir Putin after the June 23-24 armed uprising, Prigozhin retained particular popularity in Russia, where his group is known for being ruthless and brutal, as well as effective, especially in Ukraine.

His frivolity, verve laced with vulgarity, uncompromising nationalism and wild condemnations of the incompetence of the military elite made him a cult figure to some in St Petersburg.

In the shadow of the glass building where Wagner established his headquarters in the former imperial Russian capital, his supporters paraded on Thursday to lay down red carnations, roses or badges with the skull of the armed group’s logo.

Passers-by don’t hesitate to talk about their almost childlike affection for the warlord, who spent time in Soviet penal colonies and grew rich in the hospitality industry before serving the Kremlin on the battlefield and running disinformation campaigns on the Internet.

“The best in hell”

Own Prigozhin, who was being treated for stomach canceraccording to the Western press, spoke several times about his possible death.

“In the last ten years I have experienced a hundred times where they had to kill me, but it didn’t happen. I take life philosophically,” Wagner’s boss said in an interview last May.

One month before the armed uprising of June 23-24, Prigozhin assured that he was not afraid for his life.

“When it comes to threats to life and liberty, you have to do what needs to be done and make it happen no matter what,” he said.

In another recent video asking about death, Wagner’s boss replied, “We’re all going to hell, but we’ll be the best there.”

In addition, Putin expressed his condolences to the relatives of the ten passengers of the plane who died on Wednesday, local authorities said. (JO)

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