Evgeny Prigozhin.

Evgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin is a Russian billionaire, the leader of the terrorists of the "Wagner" PMC.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was born June 1, 1961 in St. Petersburg.

At the age of 18, Prigozhin received his first prison sentence, a suspended sentence for theft. But two years later, in 1981, he was sentenced to twelve years in prison for fraud, robbery, and enticement into prostitution of minors. However, Prigozhin served only nine years before being released in 1990.

After prison he was educated as a pharmacist-provisor, but did not work in his specialty. Instead, Prigozhin went into business, starting with a fast-food chain in St. Petersburg. In 1993 he became the head of a new local supermarket chain, and in 1996 he opened the first luxury restaurant in St. Petersburg at that time, which was making a full million dollars in profit by the end of its first year of operation.

Famous and financial success Evgeny Prigozhinu brought the restaurant New Island, which he opened in 1998. The establishment became quite popular among Russian political elites; Russian President Vladimir Putin often held business meetings or holidays there. Because of this, Evgeny Prigozhin was nicknamed "Putin's cook".

Later, in 2018, Vladimir Putin admitted in an interview with the foreign press that he knew Yevgeny Prigozhin. At the same time, he tried in every way to deny any ties between Prigozhin and the Kremlin.

In 2013, it became known about the existence of a certain "Internet Research Agency", which was financed by the business structures of Evgeny Prigozhin.

The agency's employees, known on the Internet as "Prigozhin's trolls" or "Prigozhin's bots," were engaged in writing pro-Putin and pro-Kremlin articles and comments online, as well as actively discrediting the Russian political opposition.

In 2014, the "Prigozhin Troll Factory" was accused of direct informational interference in the presidential elections in the United States.

Evgeny Prigozhin is associated with the commander of the Russian private military company "Wagner", Dmitry Utkin. "Vagner" is notorious for its participation in the war in Ukraine and in Syria.

Evgeny Prigozhin owns the construction company Concord, the Russian online publication Federal News Agency (also known as Fabrika Media) and a number of other firms and companies that operate in a variety of fields.

In 2019, an An-72 passenger plane crashed in the Congo. Rumors instantly spread online that Evgeny Prigozhin was on board the An 72 and died as a result of the crash.

Later, this information was not confirmed and it turned out that Yevgeny Prigozhin was alive.