Wagner leader Prigozhin

Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet that crashed flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, killing all ten people on board, according to Russian officials


ESTONIA
LATVIA
BELARUS
St Petersburg
RUSSIA
Crash site near Kuzhenkino
Moscow
200km 125 miles


1980s: Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin spends nine years in prison for robbery

1990s: Prigozhin starts career as hot dog seller. Becomes involved in grocery and gambling businesses – meets Vladimir Putin

1995: Builds restaurant and catering business in St Petersburg, becomes known as “Putin’s chef”

2003-12: Prigozhin’s Concord Catering wins significant government contracts, including schools and military

2014: His newly-formed paramilitary Wagner Group supports Russia-backed uprising in eastern Ukraine

2015: Wagner supports Putin’s campaign in Syria, shoring up President Bashar al-Assad

2016: Prigozhin indicted by U.S. federal authorities, accused of operating “troll farm” to influence presidential election

2018: Wagner supports Kremlin goals in string of African countries stretching from Central African Republic to Libya

Feb 2022: Putin invades Ukraine. Wagner deploys tens of thousands of its veterans. Prigozhin recruits mercenaries in prisons
        
2023: Putin protégé clashes with army chiefs, accusing them of depriving his fighters of supplies

Jun 24, 2023: Prigozhin stages aborted mutiny against Kremlin’s military leadership. Putin denounces rebellion as “treason” – observers speculate that mercenary chief is “dead man walking”

Aug 23, 15.20GMT: Prigozhin’s Embraer Legacy 600 private jet flying to St Petersburg plummets from its cruising altitude of 8,530 metres

Video images appear to show plane is missing a wing
                 

Sources: Associated Press, Bloomberg, Brookings, Reuters 
Picture: Getty Images 
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