Yevgeny Prigozhin
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin[a]\xa0(Russian:\xa0\u0415\u0432\u0433\u0435\u0301\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0412\u0438\u0301\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u041f\u0440\u0438\u0433\u043e\u0301\u0436\u0438\u043d,\xa0IPA:\xa0[j\u026av\u02c8\u0261\u02b2en\u02b2\u026aj \u02c8v\u02b2ikt\u0259r\u0259v\u02b2\u026at\u0255 pr\u02b2\u026a\u02c8\u0261o\u0290\u0268n]; 1 June 1961 \u2013 23 August 2023) was a\xa0Russian\xa0mercenary leader and\xa0oligarch.[4]\xa0He led the\xa0Wagner Group\xa0private military company and was a close confidant of Russian president\xa0Vladimir Putin\xa0until launching\xa0a rebellion\xa0in June 2023.[5]\xa0Prigozhin was sometimes referred to as "Putin's chef" because he owned restaurants and catering businesses that provided services to the\xa0Kremlin.[6]\xa0Once a convict in the\xa0Soviet Union,[7]\xa0Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were "tightly integrated with\xa0Russia's Defence Ministry\xa0and its intelligence arm, the\xa0GRU".[8]