Once a businessman with a catering empire, Yevgeny Prigozhin manoeuvred himself into a position so powerful that as Russia’s war in Ukraine progressed, he could openly question his ally’s strategy.
The owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, the mercenary force that has fought some of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine – most notably the drawn-out pursuit of Bakhmut – this summer the 62-year-old stepped into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership.
