From being a hot dog seller to a high-profile businessman and a former close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prighozin was presumably one of the most influential mercenary war merchants in the world at the moment before he died in a plane crash on Wednesday in a plane crash in Russia

He was reportedly among the ten killed members on board a jet flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, including seven passengers and three crew. 

According to the BBC, the jet was reportedly bright down by  air defenses in the Tver region, north of Moscow

Prigozhin recently fell out with Putin after he attempted to topple the Russian strongman in an attempted coup in June.

However, Putin has reportedly described the attempt as a grievous ‘betrayal from within’ and issued a stern warning of repercussions for those deemed ‘traitors.’

 

Here are the top 10 facts about the Wagner boss:

 

Yevgeny Prigozhin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 1, 1961. The same city where Putin was born 8 years earlier

 

The war boss was from a humble background. His parents did menial jobs to make ends meet

 

Prighozin was sent to jail during the Soviet Era for fraud and theft

 

Following his release from incarceration in 1990, Prigozhin commenced a hot dog vending enterprise alongside his mother and stepfather at the Apraksin Dvor open-air market in Leningrad. Putin was one of his customers.

 

He later became Putin’s chef and got gigs to host dinners for the strong man, prepare food for the Kremlin’s armed forces, and allegedly manage secretive political operations.

 

According to Prigozhin’s account, he established the Wagner Group in 2014 to assist Russian forces engaged in the Donbas conflict.

The American government accused Prigozhin of being involved in the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the troll farm reportedly behind the manipulation of the 2016 US election.

 

Prigozhin has notably broadened his business footprint into the African continent, reportedly engaging across diverse industries such as mining, logistics, and security. His enterprises have been linked to oil extraction in Libya, diamond mining in the Central African Republic, and gold mining operations in Sudan.

Beyond his culinary and military contracting enterprises, Yevgeny Prigozhin maintains stakes in the media sector, including ownership of the Russian news agency known as the Federal News Agency (FAN).

 

Prigozhin is married to Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina, a pharmacist and businesswoman, and they are blessed with two daughters