A network of businesses linked to Yegeny Prigozhin, a figure known as “Putin’s chef,” has lost billions of rubles in defense ministry contracts in the past year, the Bell news outlet has reported.
Billionaire restaurateur Prigozhin has a history of catering to St. Petersburg’s elites and winning lucrative government procurement deals. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Prigozhin in 2016 for “extensive business dealings” with Russia's Defense Ministry.
These dealings may have now dried up after Prigozhin’s alleged businesses earned less than one billion rubles ($17.6 million) in 2017, the Bell news outlet reported Friday.
The same contracts totalled a combined 40 billion rubles ($705 million) in 2015 and 2016, according to the Bell’s analysis of the Defense Ministry’s procurement deals.
The outlet cites two ministry contractors as saying that Prigozhin’s businesses no longer provided cleaning services to the military, while six of the nine contractors that allegedly belonged to the oligarch have been liquidated or are in the process of liquidation.
Prigozhin also allegedly controls a private military contractor called Wagner that deploys mercenaries to eastern Ukraine and Syria.
Up to 200 Wagner-linked Russian mercenaries were reportedly killed in U.S. airstrikes on Feb. 7 after entering territory controlled by anti-Assad forces in eastern Syria.
Prigozhin’s ties with the Russian military may have soured over Wagner’s poorly hidden activities in Syria, the Fontanka news website — which was the first to write about Prigozhin’s possible ties to defense contracts in 2016 — reported last year.
U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Prigozhin with 12 other Russians last month for overseeing a coordinated campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
