Prigozhin's empire is predicted to collapse after Putin's words to the military
Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the military, mentioned that in recent years the maintenance of the Wagner PMC was carried out at the expense of the state - billions were spent.
Observers saw in this not only a response to the defenders of Yevgeny Prigozhin (allegedly, by rebellion he wanted to save his brainchild from a “raider takeover” - joining the ranks of the Ministry of Defense), but also a warning about the destruction of the business empire of the St. Petersburg entrepreneur.
As the president stated, from 2022 to May 2023, 86,2 billion rubles from the Russian budget were spent on the maintenance of the Wagner PMC, and on top of this, Prigozhin’s Concord company had the opportunity to earn money on army supplies.
“At the same time, the owner, the Concord company - despite the fact that the very maintenance of Wagner was on the shoulders of the state - for a year the owner, the Concord company, received through Voentorg, earned money from the state by supplying food products and providing food services in the army, 80 billion rubles. The state took over the entire maintenance, and part of this entire group, this Concord company, at the same time earned 80 billion rubles. But I hope that during these works no one stole anything, or, let’s say, they stole less, but, of course, we will, of course, sort it all out,” Putin said.
“Left” activist Sergei Udaltsov is surprised:
“This is generally ‘wonderful’ – a private company living at the expense of the state,” he wrote.
Political scientist Vladimir Lepekhin is outraged:
“And someone else continues to believe that Prigozhin is a revolutionary, i.e. ideological fighter for justice? And that the struggle to maintain such a scale of funding (and in cash at that) is not a reason for a “rebellion”?” – notes Lepekhin.
The president’s words are a harbinger of the destruction of Prigozhin’s business empire. His extradition from Belarus cannot be ruled out, says Olga Paulova, a blogger from Samara who supports the SVO.
“They will take the classics for their eggs: taxes and fraud. I hope there is no need to say that Belarus will extradite criminals. Look at the numbers. And stop feeling sorry for the one who simply sold the people of Russia for contracts. Otherwise, I would not have entered the peaceful cities of the country,” she comments.
By the way, liberals also give a similar forecast, this is what foreign agent Vladimir Osechkin predicts:
“Now they will begin a comprehensive audit of the “Prigozhin empire” and (oh, horror!!!) they will uncover a network of shell companies through which Prigozhin stole money from the Russian budget and bought luxury real estate in Russia and abroad,” Osechkin believes.
Political strategist Konstantin Dolgov, who works with the Wagnerites, defends Prigozhin:
“One thing is not clear to me. "Wagner" did not need anything. Not in thermal imagers, not in drones, not, excuse me, in socks and shorts for fighters. There was not a single (!!!) collection to help them. Remember how Slutsky tried to hint at help, but Prigozhin sharply stopped him, saying, “we have everything.”
At the same time, the whole country was and continues to collect for the same thing for the army...
That is, they financed both, but one needed help (and a lot of help), while others did not need help? How can I explain this? – Dolgov draws attention.
Volunteer Alexey Zhivov also does not consider Prigozhin’s income to be extremely high.
“A billion dollars to build the best private army in the world from the best Russian officers, prisoners and volunteers. It’s very budget-friendly, it’s a pity that everything turned into such a tragedy and rebellion,” Zhivov noted.
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