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The late Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin reported that he left most of his paper fortune and the Wagner Group’s mercenary group to his 25-year-old son Pavel.
A photo of a document that appears to be Yevgeny’s will published on the Telegraph indicates that Pavel will inherit about $120 million, a private army, a house in St. Petersburg, nine joint-stock companies, and shares in his father’s catering company, Concord. The Times of London reported on SundayWithout independently verifying its authenticity.
The catering company routinely wins government contracts, and Russian defense officials are said to owe it about $824 million which Pavel will seek to recover, according to a Telegram report cited by the outlet.
The document was authenticated in March, several months before his armed rebellion. It is said that Pavel will be required to support his extended family and the wealth will be divided between Yevgeny’s widow, Lyubov, Pavel’s two sisters and Yevgeny’s grandson in the event of Pavel’s death.
Prigozhin’s official net worth was said to be only $146 million, but Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation estimated his worth at about $20 billion, according to the article.
News of the alleged will came on the same day that a US think tank noted that a “prominent Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel” had announced that Pavel had assumed “command” of the Wagner Group under the influence of its security chief Mikhail Vatanin, and was negotiating with the Russian National Guard to restore power. Special to the Ukraine war.
Still, The Institute for War Studies said On Sunday there was no “clear unified leader” for the group, and Pavel’s new influence came after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week embraced former Wagner Group leader and current Kremlin official Andrei Troshev for a leadership position, an endorsement expressed by some elements of the group. The mercenary group “reacted negatively to.”
Yevgeny died at the age of 62 after a plane carrying him, his first lieutenant and eight others crashed in suspicious circumstances north of Moscow in August, two months after he led a failed mutiny against Russian army commanders over disagreements over the role of his own army in Russia. Invasion of Ukraine.
US intelligence suggested that the plane was blown up by unknown killers, and the Kremlin said that investigators were examining whether the fatal accident was the result of a “deliberate” attack.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Prigozhin several times, including for interference in the 2016 elections, and issued new sanctions against illicit gold and diamond companies linked to him and the Wagner Group in the days following the attempted rebellion.
“The Wagner Group exploits insecurity around the world, committing atrocities and criminal acts that threaten the integrity of nations, good governance, prosperity and human rights, as well as the exploitation of its natural resources.” Treasury officials said in June.
Meanwhile, memorial ceremonies were held across Russia for the fallen warlord on Sunday, 40 days after his death in line with the Eastern Orthodox belief that a dead person’s soul enters either heaven or hell after this period of time.
Wagner fighters and ordinary citizens alike paid their respects, but no memorials were broadcast on Russian state television.
“He could be criticized for certain events, but he was a patriot who defended the interests of the motherland on different continents,” Wagner’s recruitment arm said in a statement on Telegram.
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