perhaps he was biding his time. earlier i spoke with former us ambassador to nato kurt volker. he also served as us special representative for ukraine negotiations, engaging with senior russian counterparts to try to chart a path to peace following the kremlin s 2014 invasion of ukraine and annexation of crimea. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. i want to get your reaction to the news that we are seeing. reaction to the news that we are seeing- reaction to the news that we are seeing. first off, we know that prigozhin are seeing. first off, we know that prigozhin was are seeing. first off, we know that prigozhin was on - are seeing. first off, we know that prigozhin was on the - that prigozhin was on the manifest of the planet was shot down. we don t know whether he was physically on the plane that was shot down or not. we also don t know whether he was alive before the plane was shot down. so there is a that has to be an paktia. i think we do know is that putin understood that
as you set ukraine and africa, the middle east, what the kremlin s bs so what s next for the group? fist kremlin s bs so what s next for the grows? the group? at the moment it looks as if the group? at the moment it looks as if they the group? at the moment it looks as if they are the group? at the moment it looks as if they are still - the group? at the moment it looks as if they are still very| looks as if they are still very important in africa particularly after the niger coup which russia has now benefited from, wants to move in where the americans were. gradually i think they will be taken over by the ministry of defence. it was the aim and what rattled prigozhin when he was told that all of the wagner troops had to sign on with the regular russian army. so there will probably be taken over but right at the moment they are still performing very important work both militarily, supporting authoritarian leaders in africa and of course making a huge amount of money on all the
see whether that particular gamble pays off. always great to speak to you. thanks forjoining us. let s take a step back, and look at how yevgeny prigozhin rose to such an influential position in russia. our analysis editor, ros atkins, takes a look. we know he took an unorthodox route to a powerful position in russia. in 1981, he was sent to prison for robbery and theft. and when released in 1990, he became a hot dog salesman in st petersburg. but by 1997 he was running a top restaurant and winning lucrative catering contracts. those brought connections to the top. prigozhin even served food to world leaders. and to putin himself. and prigozhin s role was becoming about much more than food. in 2014 russia annexed crimea and launched an insurgency in eastern ukraine. prigozhin was involved.
the fbi accused prigozhin of interfering in the 2016 us election. in syria, wagner fighters supported pro government forces. more recently, there are multiple reports of wagner s military and commercial activity in africa with the eu accusing the group of committing torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings. and then came the war. when putin wanted to give his invasion of ukraine impetus, prigozhin and his fighters were called in. but, as wagner s death toll grew, so did prigozhin s fury. expressed first in video rants and then in a short lived mutiny. in the aftermath, putin condemned the mutineers as traitors. but for prigozhin, charges were dropped, no arrest followed. we asked, why wasn t putin punishing prigozhin? perhaps he was biding his time.
in 2014, russia annexed crimea and launched an insurgency in eastern ukraine. prigozhin was involved. at that time he said. and soon the wagner group reached far beyond ukraine. the fbi accused prigozhin of interfering in the 2016 us election. in syria, wagner fighters supported pro government forces. more recently, there are multiple reports of wagner s military and commercial activity in africa with the eu accusing the group of committing torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings. and then came the war. when putin wanted to give his invasion of ukraine impetus, prigozhin and his fighters were called in. but, as wagner s death toll grew, so did prigozhin s fury. expressed first in video rants and then in a short lived mutiny. in the aftermath, putin condemned the mutineers as traitors.