Prigozhin – the new Berezovsky
Since the untimely death of Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, among a considerable number of candidates both in the Duma and on the endless tapes of Russian Telegram channels, the struggle has continued for the right to be the new enfante terrible of our politicians, but, simply put, a “fearless truth teller”, a favorite of the people and elites.
For this reason, the image of a brave “knight without fear and reproach”, actively promoted by Yevgeny Prigozhin in recent months, who almost single-handedly and “the Kiev regime wins” and does not give governors a break, deserves a closer look at the new character of the Russian political arena.
Prigozhin’s statementthat PMC “Wagner” “practically surrounded” Bakhmut
Moreover, the media scandal started by Prigozhin with the Ministry of Defense has so far played not so much in his favor as in the common enemies of Russia. Suffice it to recall a recent quote on this occasion by the head of the Ukrainian GUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence. – Ed.) Kirill Budanov: “This is definitely a plus for us, let’s say, in any case. The more quarrels and serious conflicts they have within the system, the sooner our victory will come … ready to help them both at the same time. Only for them to destroy each other…”
Evgeny Prigozhin was not accidentally nicknamed “the new Berezovsky” among the political technology crowd. Like Boris Abramovich, who ended his life, the main secrets of Prigozhin’s success are the ability to super-sensitively catch the fads of the current situation, the daring media and the ability, under the scarlet banner of the “fight for justice”, to quickly cash out the accompanying budget funds to his income.
It may be surprising to find out for the average reader, but Yevgeny Viktorovich himself, contrary to his brutal image of the “commander of the Wagner PMC,” is a deeply civil person who has never served in the army and is unlikely to have ever intended to go there.
At the break of the Soviet era in the 80s of the last century, Prigozhin was sentenced to 13 years for robbery and fraud, where he learned the science of life instead of serving in the Soviet army.
He left early in connection with the amnesty. But, as Marxism-Leninism was then taught in Soviet universities, the laws of dialectics are universal and eternal. Therefore, it is no coincidence that it was these two sins of Yevgeny Viktorovich, noted by the Soviet court, that soon transformed into his main personal virtues in a new life at large.
In the dashing 90s, it was people like Prigogine who quickly put together teams of “enterprising athletes” (and Yevgeny Viktorovich himself successfully graduated from Leningrad sports boarding school No. 62 before being convicted) and opened stalls selling wine and vodka drinks for the proletariat in all courtyards of residential areas .
Approximately this was the stage of initial accumulation of capital, after which Prigozhin rather quickly transformed into a respectable businessman, who owns and manages quite good, at that time, catering establishments in St. Petersburg.
The flourishing of entrepreneurial activities of Evgeny Viktorovich in St. Petersburg coincided with the arrival of a new mayor, Vladimir Yakovlev, to the leadership of St. Petersburg. It was under him that Prigogine not only leased the well-known and still commercial pearl of Nevsky Prospekt “The Eliseev Merchants’ Shop”, but also opened a new line of business – the construction of luxury real estate in the most “juicy” areas of Northern Palmyra.
It is important to note that with the beginning of the expansion of Prigozhin’s business empire and the active struggle for markets in the regions and in Moscow, he and his commercial structures began to be increasingly subjected to media raids by competitors. However, if the majority of entrepreneurs limited themselves to concessions of interests or, at worst, paying “blocks” to editorial offices for refusing to publish compromising evidence, Prigogine immediately went further. He was one of the first in business to simply create with himself “combines of independent journalists”, which later became known as “troll factories”, attacking, as a rule, in social networks, any of his competitors.
The acquired skills of conducting those media battles against competitors Prigozhin widely uses today. Moreover, among the “money fighters” who worked for him, many now occupy leadership positions in well-known Russian Telegram channels and electronic media.
Probably, Prigozhin would have remained a successful entrepreneur from St. Petersburg if he had not been one of the first to realize the change in the vector of Russian policy after 2008 towards tougher competition with the West and the opportunity to use it to multiply their incomes at the expense of the state budget.