In 1981, a court in Leningrad sentenced him to 12 years for his connections to organized crime. The charges included robbery, fraud, & most disturbingly, the prostitution of minors
Upon his release in '90, Prigozhin cornered the hotdog/sausage market in Leningrad (St Petersburg) - seriously
This coincided w/ Putin's exit from the KGB & ascension to the role of advisor to the Mayor Leningrad, Sobchak
Likely where Prigozhin & Putin first crossed paths
2/11
Prigozhin either raised or 'found' the funding to open the high-end Old Customs House restaurant
Soon after he converted an old boat on the Vyatka River into the exclusive New Island restaurant - where Putin hosted French Pres Jacques Chirac in '01 and G. W. Bush in '02
3/11
Prigozhin made close connections with Sobchak's bodyguard Viktor Zolotov who is now director of the Rosgvardiya & Putin's former security Roman Tsepov who was assassinated in '04 via radiation poisoning after a visit to an FSB office
Prigozhin was now legit by RUS standards
4/11
Prigozhin leveraged his connections with Putin & the Siloviki to win lucrative contracts - starting with education catering & his Concord Culinary facility, which was financed by the state-owned Vnesheconombank
This was quickly followed by MoD catering contracts.
5/11
He continued to work his way further into the RUS security apparatus
Note: he is the only civilian in the first picture. His organized crime history & lack of experience lead to ill-will w/ MoD
His military contracts take funding from MoD & elevated him to oligarch class
6/11
The creation of Wagner Group is often credited to Demitri Utkin after their 1st actions in Ukrain in '14
After Wagner challenged US forces in '18 in Syria & suffered heavy losses, US intercepts showed Prigozhin was the one calling the shots
He was Wagner's owner/funding
7/11
Since then, Prigozhin's ties have only become more obvious
As for Utkin, no one seems to know where he is. Last we heard was '17 when he was awarded a role in Prigozhin's Concord org
Prigozhin appeared in the Donbas on 4/22 & again in Popasna just a few days ago...
8/11
But, as the Russians have found out - time and time again - media appearances are generally a bad idea on the frontlines of Ukraine
9/11
As Russia struggles to mobilize & Wagner and other irregulars continue to mount losses, the groups have been forced to drop their standards & engage in more aggressive recruitment strategies.
10/11
Pres Macron said in a pre-Bastille speech that he wants FRA to rethink its military posture in Africa. This comes as FRA's Barkhane is in the final stage of withdrawing from Mali
The situation in the Sahel is deteriorating & a wave of coups has weakened FRA's posture 1/
FRA Foreign & Defence Ministers visit Niger today & will finalize the redeployment
Niger is the logical choice - FRA is established in Niamay, Arlit, Diffa, & Agadaz (US)
It's telling that Niger's Pres Bazoum was the only one present at the G5 Sahel meeting in FRA - July '21 2/
Meanwile, the junta in Burkina Faso (G5) is struggling to keep their security promises. ACLED shows a 57% increase in fatalities vs previous 12 month avg
Over two weeks ago BK announced the evacuation of two regions in preperation of military ops 3/
Germany is in the process of changing its footprint in Mali. It has halved the troops committed to training Malian forces to 300 and increased its commitment to MINUSMA from an upper limit of 1,100 to 1,400.
Mali continues to distance is self from its traditional partners both in the region and globally. Earlier this year Mali’s junta pressured France to withdraw forces accommodated with Op Barkhane.
This coincided with the arrival of Russian contractors affiliated with Wagner.
Earlier this month, Mali announced that it would withdraw from the G5 Sahel thus limiting counterterrorism coordination in the region
Though RUS denies involvement in the deployment of Wagner, FM Lavrov meet with Malian FM Diop two weeks ago to discuss security and trade.