Prigogine can be called one of the symbols of Putinism. Twice convicted of theft, he became a caterer in the early 1990s, then his business interests grew in line with rising income and influence. He found a way for Putin and became useful first as a restaurateur. However, Prigozhin was not very interested in the construction of real estate objects; he used Putin’s favor to form a media empire in the service of the Kremlin. And he does so not only through his own media, but also thanks to the “Olga trolls”, who also became one of the symbols of interference during the 2016 presidential elections in the United States. In July 2022, the US State Department announced a reward of $ 10 million for Yevgeny Prigozhin, and this fact seems to have become a signal for him to go for broke. In particular, due to the public promise to intervene during the mid-terms abroad.
The increasingly visible private military company “Wagner” was known earlier, it began to manifest itself in 2014 in Donbass, then the “Wagnerites” (in the Russian media they are called “orchestra”) operated in Syria and a number of African countries . They resemble the SS men of the Third Reich, for whom their own rules of conduct and code of honor have been created. The murder on camera of Wagnerian Yevgeny Nuzhin in the fall of 2022, followed by the transfer of the bat to the European Parliament, is a good example of Prigozhin’s behaviorthat seeks to position itself above the law, to challenge existing rules. In parallel, he demonstrates vassal loyalty to Putin, which should be enough to solve personal problems and increase influence within the Russian establishment. Therefore, its demonstrative nature as a countersystem is just a skillful use of stereotypes.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s tour of the penal colonies of Russia, where he flew by helicopter with rattles on a khaki jacket (Prigozhin is a hero of Russia (!!!) and a “hero” of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” ), became an asymmetric response to the defeat of the Russian army in the Kharkiv region. It is not known for certain whether Putin asked his trusted chef to quickly join the ranks of the invaders, but it is difficult to imagine that even in Russia the gates of colonies and prisons were opened to a formally private individual.
According to John Kirby, there are 10,000 mercenaries and 40,000 yesterday’s prisoners who were released to participate in hostilities in Ukraine in the PVK Wagner.
Some of them had already returned home in body bags, and they were characters facing long sentences for murder and other serious crimes.
The assault on Bakhmut, which began in July 2022, has become for Prigozhin his personal Stalingrad (in Russia, I remind you, there is serious discussion about the possibility of returning this name to the city of Volgograd). It is on Bakhmut that the attacks of the Wagnerians are directed, and their goal is far from a champagne factory located in the city. Much more interested are the Bakhmut dungeons, where, at least, there were significant stocks of weapons. However, Prigozhin fails to demonstrate the effectiveness of his battlefield charges, hence the New Year’s video about the “500 lines of defense” in Bakhmut. At the same time, we note that the “Wagnerites” in this direction are unlikely to be replaced by men from the Russian army, of course, if they are not suicidal.
Prigozhin revealingly sets his own rules of conduct. In recent weeks, he has ousted Ramzan Kadyrov from the information field, and this may indicate the commitment of the Russian special services, which for a number of reasons are not impressed with the master of Chechnya. Prigozhin showed solidarity with the Wagnerians, who gave a public and obscene description of the Russian chief of staff, Gerasimov. The “war cook” managed to react to Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to Bakhmut and show that on New Year’s Eve he is next to those who have unsuccessfully assaulted Bakhmut since July. Not forgetting to “accidentally” mention that Sergiy Surovikin, commander of the reichists in Ukraine, also congratulated his fighters.
By the way, it would not be superfluous to recall that in recent years Prigogine has financed the production of propaganda films “Tourist” and “Sunshine”, which glorify Wagnerians, so it is not worth talking about the sponsor of the PMC “Wagner” as a field commander, it is too risky for him to approach the front.
A well-aimed barrage of HIMARS on New Year’s Eve at a vocational school in Makeevka, where several hundred mobilized Russian servicemen were stationed, gave Prigogine a good chance for a powerful information attack on the leadership of the Russian army. Prigozhin has relevant experience: a few months ago, together with Ramzan Kadyrov, he “ate up” the commander of the Central Military District, General Lapin. The recipe is really simple: a media wave, combined with the ability to convey information directly in the first person.
Prigozhin demonstrates his willingness to take risks, relying on the myth of the effectiveness of Wagner PMC, which has no objective evidence.
He skillfully creates situational alliances to achieve his own goal, using the image of “a person not from the system”. And this lack of system continues to transmit itself to Russian society, as if he were saying to the local lumpen: “I’m one of you, I just got a little luckier.”
Why is Prigozhin beneficial to the Kremlin? Ten years ago its structures were engaged in cleaning up the media field of the Russian Federation and destroying the Russian opposition from within, since 2014 they have been carrying out “delicate instructions” with weapons in hand. Prigozhin is helping Putin build a country of penal battalions, as if sending the Russian people back to Stalin’s times. It remains only to re-release the book “On Tasty and Healthy Food” to achieve a better reconstruction effect. With harsh statements about Russian generals and a hairpin about Medvedev’s “erotic fantasies”, Prigozhin forms the image of a military populist, unconditionally subordinate to Putin. And his Wagnerians are ready to become, if necessary, “death squads” for Russia in times of impending turmoil.
Putin’s psychology: why Crimea can be liberated by force
