Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian paramilitary forces, is one of the most wanted men by the FBI
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a mercenary who He rebelled against the Russian military leadershipHe caused an unprecedented crisis under Vladimir Putin, and is one of the most wanted people in the United States for being the architect and executor of interference and disinformation campaigns in the North American presidential elections and for his material support for the first invasion of the United States. Ukraine in 2014.
Chief businessman Wagner Groupis on the most wanted list by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States judicial police, because of his role as a financier of Internet Research Agency (Ira), a Russian entity known for its role in spreading disinformation and interfering in the US presidential election won by Donald Trump in 2016.
The FBI has it An international arrest warrant against him. This means that if Prigozhin travels to a country that has an extradition treaty with the United States, he could be taken into custody to answer the charges against him.
Special Prosecutor’s Report Robert Mueller On the Kremlin’s meddling, introduced in 2019, allowed Prigozhin to be indicted for creating a so-called troll and bot factory that spread misinformation about elections not only in the United States, but also in Europe. With this factory, according to Mueller, Russia manipulated social networks to sow discord among American voters during the 2016 elections.
Prigozhin’s disinformation network operated a complex network of fake accounts on various social media platforms that were used to spread disinformation and propaganda. These accounts reached millions of social media users in the US with fake news, exacerbating existing political and racial divisions in the country.
Attorney General Mueller concluded that Prigozhin’s scheme helped Trump’s campaign and hurt his opponent, Hillary Clinton. European countries’ intelligence services also regard him as crucial to interventions in Europe, including the Brexit referendum and the independence crisis in Catalonia in 2017.
In the US indictments, prosecutors detail how Prigozhin, along with 12 others, conspired to commit crimes in the United States by interfering with its political and electoral system. Because of his location in Russia and the lack of an extradition treaty between Russia and the United States, Prigozhin has never been arrested or tried in connection with these allegations.
In 2018, a grand jury in the US capital, the District of Columbia, indicted Prigozhin for interfering with the US electoral system. Prigozhin financed these activities through Concord Management Consulting LLC, Concord Catering, and other subsidiaries and affiliates.
To hide the origin of his activities in Russia, the prosecution alleged that Prigozhin purchased space on computer servers located within the United States to create a virtual private network.
The FBI is also looking for Prigozhin because of his connection to the Wagner mercenary group. Funded by the same businessman, this paramilitary organization has been involved in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Libya, often with devastating results for the civilian population and the stability of the region.
According to a US State Department report dated May 2022, Prigozhin was involved in a massacre in the village of Mora in Mali, with the participation of Malian and Russian forces.
In Sudan, Prigozhin supported the ruling regime in exchange for Russian companies exploiting some of the most lucrative sectors, such as oil, natural gas, agriculture and gold, according to the US Treasury Department. Prigozhin, through business entities such as M Invest, has played a major role in these resource exploits.
In parallel, the Russian business disinformation and propaganda network spread false narratives to divert attention and evade responsibility for these events. According to US diplomacy, Prigozhin’s disinformation is spreading across Africa, using politicians, front companies and social media maze to influence pro-Russian African politics.
In addition to Africa, the Wagner Group was instrumental in the invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. Prigozhin was sanctioned by the Barack Obama administration in December 2016 for his role in the illegal annexation of Crimea. These sanctions ban Prigozhin’s property in the United States Since then, the Treasury Department has imposed more sanctions on Prigozhin, in 2020 under Trump and in 2022 under Joe Biden.
already in january, White House He warned of a chasm opening up between the Russian military leadership and Prigozhin, who has been highly critical of carrying out the invasion of Ukraine, but not of Putin. As US presidential spokesman John Kirby said at the time, there were indications, including intelligence, that tensions between Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry were increasing.
The White House already knew that the Wagner Group had become a rival force to the military and various Russian ministries. Washington is reportedly convinced Prigozhin is trying to promote his own interests in Ukraine, and Wagner is making military decisions based on his boss’s designs, not the Kremlin’s.
The United States estimates that Wagner currently has about 50,000 soldiers deployed to Ukraine, including 10,000 private contractors and 40,000 convicts on loan from the Russian regime, recruited from prisons.
The White House also accused North Korea of supporting Russia’s military operations against Ukraine by supplying weapons and ammunition to Wagner. Partly because of US sanctions and export controls, Russia has been buying weapons from foreign countries through Wagner.
