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. of that time, he s said a group of patriots was born , which later acquired the name wagner battalion. 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.
significant power in russia commanding thousands of troops who were financed and supported for a time by many at the top of the russian government. so how did that happen? our analysis editor ros atkins has been taking a look. well, we know that prigozhin 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 hotdog 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. at that time he said. and soon the wagner group reached far beyond ukraine.
in the tver region. in st petersburg, a public memorial has been set up outside the wagner headquarters to pay tribute to mr prigozhin as well as his right hand man dimitry utkin. mr prigozhin rose from obscurity to a position of significant power in russia commanding thousands of troops financed and supported by some of the country s most powerful politicians. our analysis editor ros atkins has been taking a look at his rise and fall. well, we know that prigozhin 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 hotdog 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.
news. so how did yevgeny prigozhin rise to such influence in russia and to lead a mercenary group with a presence in many countries? our analysis editor ros atkins is here with more on his story. yevgeny prigozhin took an unorthodox route to becoming a powerfulfigure 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. 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. of that time, he s said a group
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. of that time, he s said a group of patriots was born , which later acquired the name wagner battalion. 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.