The sulphurous businessman Evguéni Prigojine, known to be close to Vladimir Putin, indicated on Wednesday, December 30 that he was claiming 840,000 euros from the Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny and his team, in the context of defamation complaints.
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Mr. Prigojine's
“
Concord
”
company
claimed that ten complaints “
for the defense of honor, dignity and commercial reputation
” against Alexeï Navalny and his supporters were currently being investigated by courts.
"
The total sum of claims reached 77 million rubles (more than 840,000 euros at the current rate, editor's note),
" Concord said in a statement, published in response to a request from the Interfax press agency.
In recent months, Evguéni Prigojine has regularly attacked Alexeï Navalny.
He claims, for example, the payment of damages, won in court after the publication of an investigation affirming that a company collaborating with the Concord group had served rotten food to schoolchildren.
Currently in Germany after his suspected poisoning with a nerve agent at the end of August, Navalny has promised to return to Russia, where he is targeted by other cases.
On Tuesday, the Russian authorities notably opened an investigation against him for "
large-scale fraud
", an offense punishable by ten years in prison.
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Considered a close associate of the Russian president, Evguéni Prigojine, 59, was for a time one of the Kremlin's suppliers, through his catering company Concord, which earned him the nickname "
Putin's cook
".
In September, he was sanctioned by Washington, which accuses him of playing a role in Russian interference during the 2016 US presidential election. Mr. Prigojine is also accused of being behind the private paramilitary group Wagner, whose men serve in Syria, Libya and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The person denies all these accusations en bloc.