The company was designated for being owned or controlled by Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Moscow has denied links to Yevgeny Prigozhin, dubbed “Putin's chef”, and his alleged security firm Wagner Group insisting the businessman provides catering services to the government.

The connections between Prigozhin and Wagner have been the subject of press coverage in Russia and the United States. Instead the opposite occurred.

Evro Polis is a Russian company that has contracted with the Government of Syria to protect Syrian oil fields in exchange for a 25 percent share in oil and gas production from the fields. He also had 99 phone conversations with Anton Vayno, who is chief of staff to the Russian leader, the leaked records show. All Rights Reserved. He was indicted by US authorities in 2018 who allege he funded Russia's Internet Research Agency, dubbed the “troll factory”. However, data published by investigative news outlet Bellingcat shows restaurateur Prigozhin was in regular contact with Russia's top officials. (PONARS Policy Memo) Yevgeny Prigozhin, the corrupt military contractor from St. Petersburg who funds the informal armed organization known as the Wagner Group, expanded his lucrative foreign adventures into Africa in 2018 with Russian state support. [39], On 20 December 2016, the US Treasury Department designated Prigozhin pursuant to E.O.13661 for sanctions for providing support to senior officials of the Russian Federation. [80] It claimed the two locals who had met Ward at the hotel were offered cash to lie about adverse experiences with Russians. The venture on a docked boat was a success. At least some of the Russian surveillance of CNN's team ended up in a slickly produced video released in August 2019 by RIA/FAN. According to Bellingcat, Prigozhin called and texted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov 144 times in an eight month period.

On 7 February 2018, Wagner attacked US backed Kurdish forces in Syria in an attempt to take an oil field. His role is emblematic of the dual power structure in Russia. Wagner soldiers have fought in war zones such as Libya, Syria and the Central African Republic but authorities have strongly denied they take orders from the Kremlin. Prigozhin is believed to be a funder of the Wagner group, a private military contractor. The alleged mercenary leader also made contact with Putin's domestic politics boss 54 times and had 25 phone calls with Russia's head of military intelligence Alexey Dyumin, the report says. [12] By 2003, Prigozhin had left his business partners, established his own independent restaurants, and had become a confidante of Putin, apparently free to engage in illicit activities without fear of prosecution. He was later seen in a restricted airport area when the CNN team was about to fly to a town called Boda.

Первым президентом ассоциации абсолютным большинством голосов избран глава агентства «Никколо М» Игорь Минтусов. In 2003, Putin celebrated his birthday at New Island. According to Bellingcat, Prigozhin called and texted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov 144 times in an eight month period. He also had 99 phone conversations with Anton Vayno, who is chief of staff to the Russian leader, the leaked records show.

Moscow has denied links to Yevgeny Prigozhin, dubbed “Putin's chef”, and his alleged security firm Wagner Group insisting the businessman provides catering services to the government. [52][53][54][55][56][57][58] Pyotr Bychkov (Russian: Петр Александрович Бычков) is responsible for coordinating the "Africa expansion".

His fortunes continued to rise even after scores of his fighters were killed and wounded by a United States air strike in eastern Syria. interference in the 2016 United States elections, to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, International sanctions during the Ukrainian crisis, Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019), interference with the U.S. political and electoral processes, Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (January–June 2018), "The oil field carnage that Moscow doesn't want to talk about", "Navalny asks FSB to investigate Putin's cook", "Thousands of Russian private contractors fighting in Syria", "New Sanctions Against 'Putin's Chef' Prompt Latest Russian Election Meddling Denial", "Putin Chef's Kisses of Death: Russia's Shadow Army's State-Run Structure Exposed", ?

He spent nine years in jail after being convicted by a Soviet court of robbery and other crimes. Russia has denied these claims with Putin saying it was “so low” to suspect “a restaurateur from Russia” of influencing the vote in the US. [25], His company, Concord Catering, got hundreds of millions in government contracts for feeding school children and government workers. News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. He has a private jet and a 115-foot yacht. But the surveillance and harassment continued there. "[12] He also became a 15% stakeholder and manager of a "Contrast," started by Boris Spektor (Russian: Борис Спектор), a classmate from his boarding school, which was the first grocery store chain in Saint Petersburg. Former hotdog seller became known as ‘Putin’s chef’ because of his Kremlin catering contacts, Tue 11 Jun 2019 12.31 BST Bellingcat says Pikalov was the liaison between Russia's Ministry of Defense and Prigozhin's political, media, and mining operations in Africa. In 1981 he was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment under articles of robbery, fraud, and involving teenagers in prostitution. The US Department of the Treasury also imposed sanctions on PMC Wagner and Utkin personally in June 2017. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. More disturbing was a vehicle with several white passengers that was trailing CNN's team. [13][14][a] They founded Viking CJSC (Russian: ЗАО «Викинг»), too.