In February 2023, he confirmed that he was the founder and long-time manager of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company running online propaganda and disinformation campaigns.
In November 2022, Prigozhin acknowledged his companies' interference in United States elections.
Funded by the Russian state, it played a significant role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine and supported Russian interests in Syria and in Africa. In 2014, Prigozhin reportedly founded the Wagner Group to support pro-Russian paramilitaries in Ukraine. Once a convict in the Soviet Union, Prigozhin controlled a network of influential companies whose operations, according to a 2020 investigation, were 'tightly integrated with Russia's Defence Ministry and its intelligence arm, the GRU'. Prigozhin was sometimes referred to as 'Putin's chef' because he owned restaurants and catering businesses that provided services to the Kremlin. He led the Wagner Group private military company and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a rebellion in June 2023. Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin ( Russian: Евге́ний Ви́кторович Приго́жин, IPA: 1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch.
