"Putin's cook" takes on oligarchs: "The sooner everything is taken from them, the better"
Created: 12/26/2022, 12:12 p.m
By: Franziska Schwarz
Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin (archive image) © Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool EPA via AP/dpa
Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as "Putin's cook", is being traded as a possible successor to Putin.
He fueled the rumors with a public appearance.
In a Russian television interview, "Putin's cook" Yevgeny Prigozhin lamented the lack of commitment by oligarchs and the wealthy to Putin's war against Ukraine.
More details from the interview have since emerged.
The financier of Putin's "shadow squad" Wagner told RT on December 24 of Russia's money elite: "They are scared.
You like the convenience.
They all want to dip into a warm pool in the evening and have fun.”
The 61-year-old advocated taking everything away from these Russian compatriots.
From his point of view, they would then also be ready to support the front.
"At some point you have to realize that you have to part with everything you have, i.e. with the seductive world, the restaurants, health resorts, dachas, swimming pools," he said.
"The sooner everything is taken from them, the better." Like many wealthy Russians, Prigozhin is subject to Western sanctions for supporting the war in Ukraine.
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Prigozhin appeared publicly on Saturday in St. Petersburg at the funeral of a "Wagner" fighter killed in the war in Ukraine.
State media in Russia treated this as a sensation, because Prigozhin has often spoken out recently, but has not appeared in front of the camera.
The US Institute for War Studies (ISW) offers an interpretation of Prigozhin's appearance: an attempt to gain respect and influence in Russian society.
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In their analysis of December 24, the ISW military experts also write that already on December 22, Putin attacked Russian oligarchs with the words that businessmen “abroad with no connection to their homeland” pose a “danger to Russia”.
Most of the oligarchs are still "patriots," according to the Kremlin chief.
Prigozhin is considered a close confidante of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
From her earlier time in St. Petersburg, he is also called "Putin's cook" because he entertained the politician in his restaurant there.
(frs with dpa material)