For our story on Prigozhin, we talked to numerous people who met him over the years, from former business acquaintances and officials to Wagner commanders and convicts he tried to recruit. "He has no choice. He cannot reverse” With
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Pjotr Sauer
@PjotrSauer
Reporter covering Russia and Ukraine | ex Write me: pjotr.sauer@theguardian.com
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Interesting and revealing bit in and 's excelent Prigozhin profile. Prigozhin really is like the anti-Soros.
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Amazed to pick up a copy of the Telegraaf and see them openly championing the views of “Dr”* John Campbell - a notorious liar and Covid conspiracy theorist, repeatedly busted for sharing dangerous misinformation. They should know better!
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My first weekly column in ! Please join me in this new adventure and let me know your thoughts
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“Back in the 1990s, Prigozhin did not mention in conversation that he had spent a decade in prison, those who knew him say”
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Prigozhin lost his father young, and refers to Putin as "Papa".
He rages against the elite despite now being tremendously powerful and wealthy.
And after spending his 20s in prison, he is now on a mission to get thousands of prisoners, some convinced for murder, out of jail.
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Sadly not in the profile, Prigozhin's 2002 children's book about a fictional character "Indroguzik" who "heroically helps his king save the kingdom." Prigozhin said the book had a circulation of only 1000, "distributed among famous people in Russia." (We had a peek at one)
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Our long read on Prigozhin’s background and rise to power, full of detail about the most sinister figure in Putin’s court and what motivates him (with @PjotrSauer) theguardian.com/world/2023/jan
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Rostropovich even invited Prigozhin and his wife to a gala concert at the Barbican, part of the London celebrations of his 75th birthday in 2002, according to London Symphony Orchestra records of the invitation list for the event.
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It was also unexpected to discover Prigozhin had struck up a friendship with Mstislav Rostropovich, the legendary cellist/conductor, and Rostropovich even invited Prigozhin and his wife to the London celebrations of his 75th birthday in 2002. Shows he can be charming when needed.
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It was also unexpected to discover Prigozhin had struck up a friendship with Mstislav Rostropovich, the legendary cellist/conductor, and Rostropovich even invited Prigozhin and his wife to the London celebrations of his 75th birthday in 2002. Shows he can be charming when needed.
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Includes a previously unreported meeting between Priogzhin and defence officials at the ministry’s headquarters in the summer of 2014. The meeting would result in the ministry providing Prigozhin with land in southern Russia that would be turned into a Wagner training centre
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Our long read on Prigozhin’s background and rise to power, full of detail about the most sinister figure in Putin’s court and what motivates him (with @PjotrSauer) theguardian.com/world/2023/jan
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After a bumpy few days, Germany finally confirms it will supply 14 of its own Leopard tanks to Kyiv - and issue export licences to other allies who want to send their own Leopards too. Critical moment for Ukraine: now it needs the heavy armour quickly, and in good repair
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For over a week, a statue to a Ukrainian poet in Moscow has drawn hundreds of Russians mourning Ukrainians killed in the war, and given a glimpse of how hopeless many here feel in terms of being able to effect change. “We weep together with you every day.”
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Previously unreported details on Putin's commander of Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his rise to power in the Russian elite.
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Wow great piece from & It conveys inhumanity of Wagner - to its victims & its own
Plus lots of nuggets, eg Prigozhin calling Putin ‘papa’ (creepy) or his longtime business relationship w 🇬🇧 guy from the Savoy
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At the height of Russia’s first, covert invasion of eastern Ukraine, in summer 2014, Prigozhin met with a group of senior Russian officials where he asked land that he could use for the training of "volunteers."
"The orders come from Papa,” he said
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Yevgeny Prigozhin seems to be everywhere right now, so
and I spoke to people who knew him at various stages along his rise to power and riches, and put together this long read about him
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Much needed reporting that dispels the lazy "Kremlin insider dies suspiciously" trope. Reality is usually more mundane and tragic
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Haunting ending to this story about the actual common cause of what initially appear to be suspicious deaths of Russian men: heart attacks and suicide aided by heavy drinking prompted by depression. By @SMeichtry and @pokharelkrishna wsj.com/articles/russi
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A resident in occupied Starobilsk posted in soc media saying that 4 Russian soldiers died from vodka poisoning while celebrating Epiphany. The head of #Luhansk military admin Serhiy Haidai claims that the number of dead is 20
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27 October: “Cherson is strategisch te belangrijk. De enige keuze die Poetin heeft, is doorvechten”
12 December:
“(Oekraïense winst) hangt dus sterk af van de mate waarin het Westen bereid en nog in staat is Kiev van nieuwe wapens te voorzien. Europa kan nu al niets meer.”
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Eerdere voorspellingen van De Wijk
18 Feb:
“Waarom zouden de Russen richting Kiev marcheren? Zoiets past niet bij het Russische denken.”
26 August (twee weken voor mobilisatie):
“Rusland wil niet mobiliseren. Dat kan alleen als Poetin in oorlog met de Navo komt”
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Alweer een foute interpretatie van de Russische intenties
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Hoogleraar @RobdeWijk vraagt zich af of het wel verstandig is Patriot-raketten naar Oekraïne te sturen? “Poetin vindt feitelijk al dat die in oorlog is met de NAVO. Dan kun je bepaalde lijnen overgaan en zou het kunnen escaleren naar het NAVO-verdragsgebied.” #Op1
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Hours before the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian banker warned of Moscow’s plan to capture Kyiv. Days later, he was killed by Ukrainian security agents.
tells a fantastic tale of spies and lies amid a brutal war.
wsj.com/articles/russi via
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Lavrov once again subverting the Holocaust. The US is trying to the “end of the Russian question,” he says, like “Hitler tried to end the Jewish question.”
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Russian-Armenian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan was appointed first minister in Nagorno Karabakh, which is claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan. His longstanding ties with the Moscow elite have aroused suspicions on both sides.
ft.com/content/6db561
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I spoke with a mobilized soldier who searched for bodies after the Makiivka strike and family and friends of those who died. The mood: Russians are resigned to a long war as Putin digs in. “I didn’t have a reaction. He was called up, so he had to go.”
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: From Washington, DC I spoke to @Bundeskanzler Scholz to prepare for the special #EUCO in February. We discussed the main items on the agenda of the summit – migration and strengthening the European economy – and the horrific Russian aggression in Ukraine.1
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Before he fled Russia, I spoke with Andrei Medvedev over several phone calls, in which he described in detail his time fighting with Wagner in eastern Ukraine and claimed he knew of at least 10 executions of Wagner soldiers who disobeyed orders
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A brilliant video journalist job at The Guardian that comes up very rarely. Apply apply apply (particularly if you're someone from an under-represented background...Lord knows journalism needs to do diversity better).
workforus.theguardian.com/index.php/jobs
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Putin, speaking hours after Russian strikes on a residential complex in Dnipro killed at least 21 civilians: "The dynamic is positive. Everything is going to plan. I hope that our fighters will please us even more."
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Russia's ministry of defence for the first time mentions Prigozhin's Wagner group in its official statements, saying that the charge on Soledar was accomplished thanks to "the determined actions of the volunteers of the assault detachments of Wagner"
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In order to create additional reasons for 🇪🇺 leaders to go to China and strike deals there, Beijing is using the 🇷🇺🇺🇦 card. It wants to create an impression that with a little bit of accommodation of 🇨🇳 by Europe, China is actually willing to do more to restrain Putin. 26/
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Russia’s 2023 budget envisages an increase in defense spending to nearly 5 trillion rubles (17% of total spending)
— up from a planned 3.5 trillion
Per latest finance ministry data reported today in rbc magazine
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My review of SPARE (and don't worry, no revelations, except possibly one about Hilary Mantel)
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EXCL: My interview with Labour leader - and potential prime minister-in-waiting - on his plans for the year ahead and winning the next election.
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Ukraine’s military intel claim Russia will mobilise 500k men this Jan.
“If Russia loses this time around, then Putin will collapse,” describing the next 6 to 8 months as the last push
The 1st wave of 300k proved unpopular in Russia. W comments
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“I’m against the war, but . . . People are biological creatures and have to adapt.”
I wrote about life in Moscow, where indifference to the death and misery Russia’s army is wreaking in Ukraine has been normalized – and where the champagne still flows.
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The document, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg, calls the effort part of “revenue mobilization.” bloomberg.com/news/articles/ via
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“Don’t drink a lot, don’t use drugs, and don’t rape women, only [have sex] for love or money," Prigozhin tells a group of recently pardoned convicts who served six months with Wagner in Ukraine. “Don’t steal, you have enough money for now”
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2/ China is the most significant importer from Russia, accounting for about 20% of Russia's total exports. Netherlands here is likely because energy trade goes through companies registered there.
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