Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? ‘Putin’s chef’ among 13 Russians indicted by Mueller for US election meddling
He and his companies provided significant funding to the agency that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements to influence the White House race
He is known as “Putin’s chef” – a wealthy Russian businessman and restaurateur who gained favour with Vladimir Putin through his stomach.
On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin – along with 12 other Russians and three Russian organisations – was charged by the US government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 US presidential election. According to the indictment, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St Petersburg-based group that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently bought in the name of Americans to influence the White House race.
“Americans are very impressionable people; they see what they want to see,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying Friday on Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti.
“I treat them with great respect. I’m not at all upset that I’m on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.”
A one-time hot dog stand owner, Prigozhin opened one of the swankiest restaurants in St Petersburg and drew interest from Putin. During his first term in office, Putin took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of Prigozhin’s restaurants.
“Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk, he saw that I don’t mind serving to the esteemed guests because they were my guests,” Prigozhin recalled in an interview published on the 812 Online website in 2011.