Inside Wagner boss Prigozhin’s blood-soaked BILLIONS with private jet, yacht & diamond mines as he flees into exile
WAGNER Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is being forced into exile and his mercenary company is being disbanded - but he seemingly has plenty of cash to fall back on.
Ruthless warlord Prigozhin - who led an armed rebellion against Vladimir Putin over the weekend - is estimated to be a billionaire with a huge yacht, and a private plane, among other luxuries.
British officials admit the vicious Wagner group's finances are "opaque and obscure" - but have said Prigozhin is known to make his money from dodgy government contracts and natural resources.
It is understood Wagner Group plunders diamonds, gold, oil, and gas from countries in which they operate - as well as being paid directly by crooked regimes.
And on top of his other businesses, this has inflated Prigozhin's wealth to extraordinary levels - with some estimates putting his personal fortune as much as £2billion.
Putin announced today that in the last year alone Prigozhin and Wagner Group had raked in £1.6billion worth of contracts from the Russian state.
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And a raid on the Wagner Group HQ in St Petersburg revealed £38 million cash in US dollars and other foreign currency, along with a stash of gold bullion and fake passports from the warlord.
Prigozhin - who is also on the FBI's most wanted list - appears to be nothing short of Russia's very own "Mr Big", a gangster kingpin.
He is accused of having his grubby fingers involved in companies and corruption throughout Russia.
Everything from catering and construction to oil and gas is in Prigozhin's portfolio.
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He is even accused of running notorious "troll farms" to spread propaganda in the West.
And that is as well as overseeing Wagner Group operations worldwide - with the company accused of pummeling prisoners with sledgehammers, rape, mass-murder, and killing children.
Thanks to his money-grubbing and schmoozing in the Kremlin's corridors of power, his family is understood to have access to a vast personal fortune.
They reportedly have a palatial estate worth £7.5million, a 120ft £4.5million yacht called the St Vitamin, and a £3million Hawker 800 private plane.
He even indulges a love of cars, owning a prized 1975 Lincoln Continental.
Prigozhin was named the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's "Person of the Year" in 2022.
"Prigozhin is a soldier of corruption," said reporter Drew Sullivan.
"He fights and murders to install corruption.
"Wagner is nothing more than an organized crime group sanctioned by the Russian government.”
The warlord has been ordered to live out his days in Russia's neighbouring puppet state Belarus.
He is reported to be currently staying at a three-star £50-a-night budget hotel in the capital Minsk.
His mercenary group appears to be being broken apart, with Russia ordering they hand over heavy weapons and military kit as per the deal with the Kremlin.
And while he was originally under investigation for "treason", the FSB also appear to have dropped their probe into Prigozhin.
But with his blood-thirsty empire crumbling around him, Prigozhin should have plenty to fall back on - if the Kremlin allows him to keep it rather than seize his assets for themselves.
It is also unclear what will happen to Prigozhin's family and if they will join him in Belarus.
Prigozhin has three children Polina, Veronika, and Pavel with his wife Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina, who runs a chain of chocolate shops and a network of luxurious spas.
The family is known to have globe-trotted, with Lyubov, 53, pictured in Paris, and Polina, 30, taking part in horseriding competitions across Europe.
Polina, Pavel and Lyubov have all been sanctioned by the UK over the warlord's involvement in Putin's vile war in Ukraine.
Veronika, who turned 18 this year, is the only member of his immediate family not to be subject to British sanctions.
The family is reported to play "various roles" within Prigozhin's various businesses, reports the .
Prigozhin's mother Violetta even opened her own art gallery in St Petersburg in 2017.
But she insists she has no economic ties to her son - and even won an appeal against sanctions imposed by the EU.
In a select committee submission, the Foreign Office said: "Wagner’s finances are opaque, and the mechanisms used to fund the group’s activities obscure.
"However, reports suggest Prigozhin has been able to draw on various revenue streams, including direct payments from host states; access to natural resources where the group has deployed; and inflated Russian government contracts given to Prigozhin’s other businesses."
Prigozhin's rise to power amongst the Moscow elite saw him go from petty criminal to one of the country's most powerful men - strong enough to challenge Vlad, as the world saw on Saturday.
He was once known as "Putin's chef" as he ran a restaurant and catering empire that supplied official Kremlin functions - sometimes even playing waiter himself to world leaders.
His first business venture was as a hot dog seller before he enjoyed a rapid rise during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Both being from St Petersburg, he got to know then-local bureaucrat Putin as he expanded his business dealings into casinos.
Piggybacking on Putin's own rise to power - Prigozhin set himself up as one of Vlad's top cronies and subsequently got dished out fat contracts from the Russian state.
He lined his pockets for a decade and a half before then setting up the Wagner Group mercenary company in 2014 - which saw his growing power really begin to blossom.
Prigozhin expanded the mercenary group around the world, selling his services - sometimes getting paid in contacts for gold and diamond mines, as well as resources such as oil and gas.
The company rapidly expanded in Africa - exploiting fragile political situations.
Getting richer and more powerful, Prigozhin denied all involvement with the Wagner Group until the breaking out of the war in Ukraine.
Putin drafted in the mercenary to help his failing "special military operation".
And soon Prigozhin was more than happy to be the center of attention, posing alongside his men in combat fatigues and blasting firey rants on his increasingly popular Telegram.
Growing in notoriety and continuing to get richer, he then entered into a war of words with the Kremlin over the lack of support he was getting - especially during the Battle of Bakhmut.
With his ego and confidence seemingly inflated to epic proportions, Prigozhin's ranting came to a head when he ordered his mercenaries to march on Moscow.
Seizing two towns and shooting down helicopters along the way, his forces came within just 120 miles of the capital - and Russia came within just hours of total collapse.
But then as suddenly as the rebellion began, Prigozhin announced he had signed a deal with the Kremlin.
His men withdrew - and he seemingly agreed to live out his days in "exile" in Belarus.
The bizarre episode has seemingly confirmed the cracks within the foundations of the Russian regime.
And there are now more questions than answers over what is next for both Vlad and Prigozhin.
Putin today told his troops they stopped a "civil war" as he clings on to power following the rebllion.
The 70-year-old despot addressed a carefully selected crowd of his generals and soldiers in the Kremlin's sealed-off Cathedral Square in Moscow.
He insisted the rebel mercenaries "never had the support" of the people - despite pictures showing the Wagner troops being met by cheering crowds in Rostov.
"You have stopped a civil war," said Putin.
Weary-looking Putin was flanked by soldiers as he spoke from behind a podium in the highly secure Kremlin compound at the heart of Moscow.
He was addressing 2,500 members of the military, security forces, and national guard - lecturing them on how they saved Russia.
Vlad also insisted the rebellion did not impact his army's "heroic fight" in Ukraine.
Putin's fierce tone since the attempted coup - which saw him yesterday accuse the rebels of wanting Russia to "drown in blood" - hasn't matched the apparent punishments for its leaders.
He appears to be desperately attempting to reclaim his strongman image - which has been shaken by the rebellion.
Prigozhin and Putin are said to have struck a "deal" to end the rebellion.
The terms are the agreement are still not entirely clear, but it appears to be seeing the resettling of Prigozhin and the Wagner Group in Belarus.
Wagner forces however appear to be still recruiting new fighters - and yesterday their head office said they were continuing in "normal mode".
Prigozhin and his men have been decried in the strongest possible words by the Kremlin - being branded traitors - but at this stage, it appears Russia is simply letting them go.
The warlord doubled down on his criticism again last night, insisting if he was in charge the invasion of Ukraine would have been completed in "one day" - rather than raging for 17 months.
His 11-minute audio message - which was seen as proof of life after he initially disappeared for nearly two days - also saw him again attempt to justify the rebellion.
He insisted he was not attempting to overthrow the government, but instead wanted to ensure the survival of the Wagner Group.
Putin in a pre-recorded video address just hours after Prigozhin's comments saw him vow to bring the Wagner rebels to "justice".
And yet today the FSB has confirmed they have dropped the treason charges against Prigozhin.
The rebellion has shone a light on Putin's fragility - with the largest challenge to his rule in 20 years and possibly Russia's biggest crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Western governments have been avoiding weighing in too deeply, but all seem to agree the mutiny has shown the weakness of Vlad's regime.
"Putin is destroying his own country," said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
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Experts and analysts have said Putin appears to be weaker than ever and the coup could just be the beginning of the challenges to his leadership - especially as the Ukraine war grinds on.
The Kremlin however hit back and rubbished the opinions of "pseudo specialists" as they tried to claim Putin was still in control of the volatile situation.
