Paris (HRNW) – He says he has helped the Kremlin gain ground in Ukraine, but he has ruffled feathers among Russian elites.
The head of mercenary outfit Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is fiercely ambitious, but it is unclear whether he will be able to capitalise on his battlefield successes in Moscow, experts say.
The 61-year-old has emerged from the shadows since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, in September finally acknowledging that he had founded Wagner, a group he says is spearheading operations in the east of the war-torn country.
He has also admitted to having created an infamous online troll farm that Western governments accuse of having interfered in elections, including in the United States.
Rarely has such a controversial figure shot to this degree of prominence on the Russian political stage under President Vladimir Putin, but his position remains fragile.
“He is both praised and demonised,” Russia analyst Tatiana Stanovaya wrote recently for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.