[7] Once a convict in the Soviet Union,[8] Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were "tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU".

[33][34] His grandfather, Yevgeny Ilyich Prigozhin, was a captain in the Red Army during World War II, who fought in the Battles of Rzhev and received a medal "For Courage".

[47][43] According to Prigozhin, he violated the terms of his solitary confinement "on a regular basis" until he was sent to general population in 1985, where he started to "read intensively" and worked as a lathe operator, tractor driver, and cabinet maker after receiving training at a vocational school.

[69] On 11 December 2018, a company claimed to be unaffiliated with Concord Catering called Msk LLC (Russian: ООО "Мск") was paid 2.5 million rubles for an annual "Heroes of the Fatherland Day" banquet held at the Kremlin.

[85] On 13 November 2022, Wagner Group released a video depicting its mercenaries using a sledgehammer to execute Yevgeny Nuzhin, a deserter who had reportedly been returned to the Russians in a prisoner exchange.

Dissatisfaction arose within the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the General Staff, leading to heavy squabbles between Wagner leadership and Russian high command.

[88] On 1 October 2022, during Ukraine's Kharkiv counteroffensive, which expelled Russia from most of the region, Prigozhin said about the commanders of the Russian army that "All these bastards ought to be sent to the front barefoot with just a submachine gun".

"[citation needed] Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense exists only in the information field.

[97] On 20 February 2023, in his address to the Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin said, "I am not poking you in the nose with the fact that you sit down to breakfast, lunch and dinner from gold dishes, and send your daughters, granddaughters and dogs on vacation in Dubai.

[99] Prigozhin condemned the luxurious lifestyle of the children of Russia's top officials and in particular singled out Shoigu's son-in-law Alexey Stolyarov [ru] for not joining the Russian army.

Prigozhin complained that "the children of the elites smother themselves with creams and show this on Instagram, YouTube and so on, while ordinary people's kids return home torn apart in zinc-lined coffins".

According to Prigozhin, the Russian military department also stopped issuing awards to dead fighters of his PMCs, and did not allow Wagner to use special communications and transport aircraft.

He also accused the Ministry of Defense of only giving his troops 10% of what was promised, causing high Wagner casualties, and threatened that if he did not receive ammunition, his forces would withdraw from their positions.

In a May survey conducted by the Levada Center, respondents were asked to identify the politicians they trusted the most, and for the first time, Prigozhin emerged as one of the top ten names on the list, marking a notable shift in his public perception from non-political to a political figure.

The general principles of such a movement: a rigid division of society into "good people" and "bad elite", a demand (and promise) to save the nation, and authoritarian methods of implementing these slogans.

[114][115][116] Reports from the independent Russian news outlet Meduza indicated that this development would undermine Prigozhin's hold over Wagner and jeopardize the group's profitable operations in Africa.

[119] In a video released on 23 June 2023, Prigozhin claimed that the government's justifications for invading Ukraine were based on falsehoods, and that the invasion was designed to further the interests of the Ministry of Defence and Russian oligarchs.

[120] He accused the Ministry of Defence of attempting to deceive the public and President Vladimir Putin by portraying Ukraine as an aggressive and hostile adversary which, in collaboration with NATO, was plotting an attack on Russian interests.

[126] A few moments later, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation, denouncing Wagner's actions as "treason" and vowing to take "harsh steps" to suppress the rebellion.

Prigozhin allegedly made personal efforts to establish contact with the presidential administration on the afternoon of 24 June 2023, including reaching out to Putin himself, who refused to speak with him.

Final negotiations were reportedly conducted by Anton Vaino, the chief of staff, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council, and Boris Gryzlov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus.

[138] On 28 July 2023, a confirmed sighting of Prigozhin in the aftermath of the failed mutiny emerged, showing him meeting with Freddy Mapouka, a presidential advisor in the Central African Republic, and the head of the Cameroonian pro-Russian media outlet Afrique Média, at the Trezzini Palace hotel in Saint Petersburg during the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit.

[175][176] In September 2019, three more Prigozhin companies (Autolex Transport, Beratex Group and Linburg Industries) were sanctioned in connection with the Russian interference in the 2016 United States election.

[177][g] In February 2022, the Internet Research Agency was added to the European Union sanctions list for running disinformation campaigns to manipulate public opinion and "actively supporting actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".

[183] On 16 February 2018, Prigozhin, the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management, another related company, and other connected Russian individuals were indicted by a US grand jury.

[189][190] In July 2022, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about Prigozhin, the Internet Research Agency, and other entities involved in 2016 U.S. election interference.

[192] In May 2019, Maria Butina (who had earlier pled guilty to acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of a foreign government; specifically the Russian Federation) appealed for help in paying her lawyer fees.

[197][198] She owns the New Technologies SPA LLC (ООО «Новые технологии СПА») which is located at plot 1, Granichnaya street in Lakhta Park, Sestroretsk, Kurortny District, Saint Petersburg.

[219] According to U.S. and other Western officials, "preliminary intelligence reports led them to believe that an explosion on board likely brought down the aircraft in Russia, killing all the passengers aboard.

[224] On 22 December 2023, The Wall Street Journal cited sources within the Western and Russian intelligence agencies as saying that the Wagner Group plane crash was orchestrated by Putin's right-hand man Nikolai Patrushev.