It is already known as “the Prigozhin galaxy”. And is not for less. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russian group of Wagner mercenaries, is in all the sauces today. His paramilitary pawns take over the Russian offensive in central places in Ukraine, such as Bakhmut. But his tentacles go further. Consulting, catering, housing, cinema and more are on his menu.
American and British security agencies believe that Prigozhin numbers 50,000 people. Only at Wagner. For the total volume of the conglomerate there is no number. Although the huge headquarters that Wagner has built in St. Petersburg allows us to glimpse its relevance. Also the one that acts in Europe, Africa, America and part of Asia.
And not always clandestinely.
Detailing each of Prigozhin's actions, however, is complicated. The Cassini consultancy tries it together with the GEODE, center of the Paris 8 University. And the map of the Prigozhin galaxy that they find with the contrasted black-on-white data illustrate the extensive and varied nature of its tentacles.
Because its levers are many. And they go beyond Wagner, the paramilitary company of mercenaries focused above all on the war in Ukraine and Africa, although with a presence in Bosnia and Serbia in 2022 and this 2023 and which aims to go further since "it already incorporates former Peruvian and other Latin American countries that have left private security,” Carlos Salazar Couto, from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' working group on mercenaries, explained to La Vanguardia.
Wagner, today, however, accounts for barely a fifth of all its shares, according to Cassini.
Because wherever the galaxy operates, Prigozhin has grown and diversified since 1997, when its founder launched his first restaurant business: selling hot dogs. Today he runs an entire empire. Very particularly since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012.
According to the record, since 1997, slightly more than half of their actions have been aimed at influencing, conditioning and manipulating. 29% to specific individuals or situations. 13% to Russian, international media or social networks. And another 10% to Russian or international politics. For this reason, within its galaxy, the Internet Research Agency or the Lakhta project stand out, with trolls that condition public opinion. For example, denouncing, online, from Berlin, the "atrocities" committed by the US in Syria.
Furthermore, it also includes false NGOs to act as observers in electoral processes in Africa, such as the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC). Or fraudulent think tanks like the International Anticrisis Center. Or foundations like the Foundation for National Values Protection, all of them already under Washington's radar.
Prigozhin has also developed the RIA FAN/Patriot media group, which controls the Nevskie Novosti agency; who launched a newspaper in Dnipro, Ukraine, in 2015; which tried to develop USA Really in 2018 and enter Libya in 2019; who published an "investigation" against opponents in Chechnya in the near 2021...
Apart from that, there is the activity of the Prigozhin galaxy that goes into business for its own profit, such as its restaurant business empire, which started with a small hot dog business, then became a caterer for schools, and today has to Concord as the central brand and several satellite companies as allies until they took over a large part of the Defense supplier market in Russia. Although not only that: the attack in which the pro-Russian military blogger Vladlén Tatarski died at the beginning of April, without going any further, occurred in a fashionable cafe related to him.
But there is more. For example, companies run by people directly related to him that exploit mining or energy resources, especially in the Central African Republic and Mali. Syria, in fact, signed contracts in 2019 to exploit oil and gas fields with Velada and Mercury, both being companies connected to Prigozhin.
In addition, it is estimated that it allocates a not inconsiderable 10% of its activity, according to Cassini and GEODE, to advertise its public activity and image. And even 3% to generate content with the production company Aurum Films, a company with which Prigozhin has even filmed films with local "heroes" made in Central Africa.
(In Africa, all told, he has even tried to make vodka.)
Salazar Couto defines the Prigozhin galaxy as “a particular, exceptional case promoted by Ukraine, which is strong in Africa and provides different services: escorting presidents, company security, even social work. Hence its exceptionality. That is why the concern is growing ”, he recounts.
And so it is, because its presence is also found in activities as varied and as disparate to Wagner as developing luxurious real estate complexes north of Saint Petersburg, building military cities in other areas of Russia such as Valuiki, which is on the border with Ukraine; or logistics companies such as Trans Logistik OOO.
Can the Prigozhin galaxy be compared to others or are there others that point to the same thing? Salazar Couto is once again questioned. “There is no other group with that magnitude, consistency…”, he summarizes.
Also because their game boards are getting bigger and bigger.
