Page 72 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2023

operations against the West and head of a private business empire. The mutiny of his private military
company, ‘Wagner’ was triggered when the Russian Ministry of Defense tried to accelerate its control.

Even more shocking than the mutiny itself was the understated reaction of the Russian army,
compounding the ease with which the Wagner group mercenaries took Rostov, a city of a million, which
included the important Russian headquarters of the Southern Military District. The group then sent a
column of several thousand fighters towards Moscow, which stood down on reaching a government
settlement.

Who Is Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Yevgeny Prigozhin was born in 1961 into a well-to-do Soviet family. His mother was a doctor, and his
father a mining engineer, however from adolescence he was already known to the juvenile courts for
burglary and dealing in stolen goods, culminating with the aggravated robbery of a young woman, whom
he robbed at knifepoint and nearly strangled to death. In 1981 he was sentenced to a total of 13 years in
a penal colony for a plethora of criminal activities.

He left prison 10 years later as the country was slowly beginning to embrace free enterprise, and opened
his first hot dog stand, which quickly became a success. From this humble beginning, Prigozhin expanded
into a network of supermarkets and eateries, later founding the upscale, “New Island” restaurant in
downtown St. Petersburg, frequented by a then-unknown city hall official; named Vladimir Putin.

Despite this, they didn’t meet until later, when Prigozhin and his associates needed an official ‘helping
hand’ with their chain of casinos. At that time, gambling businesses were under the oversight of the city
official; Putin, and casinos were legally required to take the city as a partner and share revenue. Despite
the business booming, the casinos were turning a loss on paper, however, no investigations into
corruption were made, despite numerous allegations.

A mere few years later, Prigozhin was hosting state dinners for Vladimir Putin at his establishments, with
the presidents of France or the United States attending as guests.

Putin’s Chef

By the time Vladimir Putin had established his authority as president of the country, Prigozhin was
expanding into the catering business, with his holding company; “Concord”, bidding for contracts in
Moscow (including in the presidential palace, federal administration, and the ministry of defense).
According to the Russian media, the value of these contracts reached over $3 billion. However, this is
likely to be a conservative estimation. In addition to this, recent investigations revealed that Prigozhin
secretly controlled further companies doing business with the state, giving him a near monopoly in
catering services for the city of Moscow, as well as many state organizations.

Indeed, a police raid found documents and company stamps belonging to as many as 600 businesses in
Prigozhin’s residence, most of them not legally tied to or owned by Concord group, but mostly managed
by personnel working for companies, belonging to the holding. The true extent of the Prigozhin empire is

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2023 Edition 72
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