For many years, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, mercenary leader Wagner who waged a brief uprising against the Russian army, was a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
In recent months, he has continued to avoid directly criticizing Mr. Putin, even as he increasingly uses social media to criticize the Russian military, accusing its leaders of treason and blaming for them for not providing enough resources for his forces.
But over the past two days, he has attacked the rationale for Putin’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine, sending his forces to capture the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a military center, and began moving Wagner convoys. towards Moscow. Putin mobilized the Russian army to suppress what he called an armed uprisingand the president of Belarus, an ally of Putin, negotiated a halt to Wagner’s advance.
Here is a look at Prigozhin’s history and some of the statements he has made:
December 2016
The US imposes sanctions against 15 Russian entities, including Prigozhin, for their dealings in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and in Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have seized territory in the same year. The Treasury Department has targeted businessmen who are associates of Putin or involved in activities that support Russia’s destabilization in Ukraine.
February 2018
Mr. Prigozhin is one of 13 Russians prosecute by a federal grand jury in the United States for interfering in the 2016 presidential election through the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory that spread disinformation and waged information warfare to support the campaign of Donald J. Trump.
September 2022
Mr. Prigozhin publicly acknowledged for the first time he was the founder of the Wagner mercenary organization, whose fighters were deployed with the Russian army in Ukraine. In the past, Wagner fighters have operated in support of the Kremlin’s military campaigns in Africa and the Middle East, sometimes fighting against US forces.
October 2022
Mr. Prigozhin is one of Putin’s two staunch supporters openly exposed the Russian military leadership after it ordered a retreat from Lyman, an important city in eastern Ukrainestressed that the withdrawal was a great embarrassment to the Kremlin.
November 2022
Just a day before the US midterm elections, Mr. Prigozhin sarcastically bragging that Russia meddled in the election.
“Gentlemen, we intervened, we intervened and we will intervene,” Mr. Prigozhin said in a statement posted by its catering company. “We will do it as carefully, precisely, surgically as we can. In our targeted operations, we remove both the kidney and the liver at the same time.”
At that time, Wagner’s army was promotion in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been under attack by Russia for months.
February 2023
Mr. Prigozhin accused two Russian military leaders of treason in a series of hostile audio messages. He claimed that the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, and the country’s most senior general, Valery V. Gerasimov, were withholding ammunition and supplies from his fighters to try destroy Wagner.
Earlier this month, Mr. Prigozhin said that Wagner would no longer recruiting fighters from Russian prisons, a practice that has drawn criticism from human rights groups but has helped fuel Moscow’s advances in eastern Ukraine.
May 2023
Mr. Prigozhin made a series of inflammatory statements. He again accused the Russian military administration of starving Wagner forces of necessary ammunition and threatened to withdraw them from Bakhmut. Days later, he appeared to retract that threat after saying he had been promised more weapons.
At the end of May, Wagner’s forces say they have taken Bakhmut, a statement it made earlier. Ukrainian officials quickly refuted this claim, but the day after admitting the loss of the city. Russian state media kept Mr. Prigozhin name ra about its coverage of those events.
At the beginning of the month, Mr. Prigozhin refute a report from The Washington Post says that leaked intelligence indicates he has offered to share Russian Army locations with Ukraine.
June 2023
Tensions between Mr. Prigozhin and the Russian military increased further. Mr. Prigozhin said Wagner will disobeying orders that would require it to sign a formal contract with the Russian defense ministry in July.
The feud quickly escalated on Friday, when Mr. Prigozhin released a 30-minute video in which he described his country’s invasion of Ukraine as a “racket” carried out by a corrupt elite chasing money. and glory without regard for Russian lives. He also challenged the Kremlin’s claim that Kiev was prepared to attack Russian-backed separatist territory in eastern Ukraine when Russia invaded.
“There is no need for war to return Russian citizens to our hearts, nor to demilitarize or denuclearize Ukraine,” Prigozhin said, referring to his initial justifications. Mr. Putin for the war. “War is necessary for a herd of animals to rejoice in glory.”
Prigozhin also accused Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, of orchestrating a deadly missile and helicopter attack on camps behind Russian lines in Ukraine, where his troops were divided. .
The Russian Defense Ministry denied the allegations, saying in a statement that messages Mr Prigozhin had posted about the alleged attacks on Wagner camps “do not correspond to reality.” His account of the attacks remains unconfirmed.
Mr. Putin mobilized the Russian military on Saturday to defend Moscow from what he called an armed uprising by Mr Prigozhin, whose forces had taken control of Rostov-on-Don and was seen moving north along the highway towards the Russian capital. Then, in an unexpected turn, the Belarusian president, Alexsandr G. Lukashenko, said he had reached an agreement with Mr. Prigozhin to halt the advance of his forces. Mr. Prigozhin confirmed the rotation of forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Prigozhin would flee to Belarus and that Russia’s military activities in Ukraine would continue unchanged.
