Factory of “trolls”, catering services and hidden laundry in trucks, it is the decadent empire of Wagner

Patriot Mediathe media group he chairs Yevgeny Prigozhinis on the way to closure, as the director of one of them, a news website, announced this weekend ria fan. The closure of this corporation is a symptom of the collapse of the business empire of the head of the Wagner Group after his failed rebellion against the Kremlin that led to his exodus to Belarus.

Although Prigozhin has a vast network of companies, from mining to catering and manufacturing 230 million euros In the years leading up to the war, it is true that three major pillars were already out of control: security, since Moscow had taken over a private army; cyber warfare agency or Factory of trolls dedicated to spreading fake news, which is also closed, and the media group he built to praise his own figure and that of the Russian government.

Many of the videos released by the mercenary boss in recent months have come from the latter bragging about his army’s might and conquests in Ukraine in messages that were usually exaggerated or filled with falsehoods.

“I announce our decision to close and leave the country’s information space,” the director said ria fan, Yevgueni Zubarev, in a video where he is glad that he “opposed those who wanted to destroy Russia”. Specifically, it aims Alexei Navalnyimprisoned dissident, repeatedly vilified by ria fan. This website is characterized above all by offering ultra-nationalist information and always positive coverage of the Wagner group and the Kremlin.

But the idyll ended when his boss revolted. The executive power headed by Vladimir Putin blocked the signal and the spread of Prigozhin’s other media, which Russian public television accused this Sunday in one of its reference shows of “I went crazy because of large sums of money” and the feeling of impunity arose when his mercenaries operated in Syria and Africa, which was “reinforced” after the capture of Soledar and Bakhmut in Ukraine.

recruitment of mercenaries

Meanwhile, his private paramilitary company is disbanded in a forced march. Moscow ensured that the Wagner group kept its contracts to protect politicians and big business Africa and the Orient, but many of its mercenaries have already begun to integrate into the Russian regular army, as Duma President Vyacheslav Volodin explained yesterday. According to him, the number of them who signed the contract offered by the Kremlin to “take arms for Russia” on the Ukrainian front is increasing.

Other sources indicate that a group of former Wagner members would go to Belarus with the goal form a new battalion on Prigozhin’s order, although there has been no news of the former oligarch since his plane landed in Minsk.

Taking over Putin’s chef empire, as it was known in its heyday, is no easy feat for the Russian government. For example, from his huge hospitality activities Food depends on a large part of the troops stationed not only in Russia, but also on the Ukrainian front, and it is unthinkable to stop this flow. It is paradoxical that while Prigozhin attacked the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, they They will pay millions in bills to feed the soldiersaccording to the treaties signed before and during the invasion.

Namely, food, where the wealth of the former mercenary boss came from, is the foundation of the entire business pyramid. Its supplier companies, grouped in concord emporium, they also supply daily food for schools and children’s orphanages; a network where the Kremlin must now take command in the absence of its executive chairman.

Prigozhin’s food business with the government began in 2006 and last year received an injection of approx. 900 million euros in the form of a contract for the supply of front kitchens. In reality, that financing has served the oligarch for decades to fuel the rest of his business, and especially to hire mercenaries. It then sold these “security services” to third countries and the Kremlin itself, increasing a an endless spiral of profit. Many food prices are believed to have been inflated and some of the money returned to Russia in mercenary projects in Syria and other covert operations.

Accounting for the Wagner Group and the rest of the financial empire presents another challenge for the Board. Cleaning doesn’t seem like the best tool for you. Experts believe that the rebellion cost the exiled oligarch dearly. many of his economic resources would continue in Russia due to Western sanctions, probably in the hands of the Kremlin either directly or by taking control of his companies. No one knows for sure how much Prigozhin’s wealth is.

There is quite a lot of instructive information about the former paramilitary leader’s way of acting. After their failed rebellion, security forces seized millions of rubles in cash hidden in several military trucks parked outside the Wagner Group headquarters in St. Petersburg. The finding proved that Prigozhin was a supposedly skilled manager black cash. Maybe those millions were meant to be facilitate their escape or pay associates in Moscow. But if an individual is capable of leaving a fortune in the back of a truck, various Western analysts believe he was smart enough to hide some of his assets in opaque places. Only your personal safety must be expensive now.

A little more than a week after Prigozhin fell from grace, what may be of great concern to Moscow is what the governments of Mali and the Central African Republic will do with the Wagner treaties. The company is deeply rooted in these countries. For example, his soldiers of fortune have been in charge of protecting the president of Central Africa for five years, Faustin Archangel Touadera.

As for Mali, it is rumored that the government pays them large sums (it was speculated to be almost ten million euros per month) for their services as a private army.

But the cornerstone of these ties lies not only in the provision of security services to high-ranking political officials. It is also an open door for a mercenary company to operate at will in any part of Africawith mines and oil fields They create authentic rivers of wealth. Former Central African parliamentarian Jean-Pierre Mara said on the DW channel that Russia must ensure that nothing changes, because “it needs the gold of Central Africa and Mali to finance the war.” But it is not clear if it will be the same actors. Or maybe it would be better to talk about the directors because some media believe that the Wagner Group is constantly hiring people in Russia, where it used to get volunteers in clubs and gyms, maybe even keep them oiled the war machine.