Yevgeny Prigozhin – Wikipedia
Wagner Group. Mercenaries.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-treasury-sanctions-putin-s-chef-more-attempted-election-n1060346
— Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Prigozhin
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Just a fascinating story.
A hundred years after the legendary find, archival records tell the definitive story of the dig that changed the world
— Read on www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-howard-carter-discovered-king-tuts-golden-tomb-180981052/ -
Yevgeny Prigozhin – Wikipedia
— Read on en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Prigozhin -
IN THEIR NEW book “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump,” reporters Karoun Demirjian and Rachael Bade lay out how Democrats put political self-preservation ahead of a genuine effort to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his abuses of power
— Read on theintercept.com/2022/10/22/deconstructed-trump-impeachment-book/ -
Putin Chef’s Kisses of Death: Russia’s Shadow Army’s State-Run Structure Exposed – bellingcat
— Read on www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/08/14/pmc-structure-exposed/ -
Threats, Lies and Videotape: Prigozhin’s Long-Running War on Free Media – bellingcat
— Read on www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2020/08/20/threats-lies-and-videotape-prigozhins-long-running-war-on-free-media/ -
Threats, Lies and Videotape: Prigozhin’s Long-Running War on Free Media – bellingcat
— Read on www.bellingcat.com/news/africa/2020/08/20/threats-lies-and-videotape-prigozhins-long-running-war-on-free-media/- In our previous article from this investigation series, we described the origins and the state-run nature of Russia’s shadow military units, known collectively under the name “Wagner PMC” (private military company).
- We also identified the close collaboration between Yevgeny Prigozhin and the highest echelons at the Kremlin, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the GRU/GU.
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www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/world/europe/russia-lgbt-gays.html
Russia’s Parliament is set to pass a legislative package that would ban all “gay propaganda,” signaling an even more difficult period ahead for a stigmatized segment of society.
The laws would prohibit representation of L.G.B.T.Q. relationships in any media — streaming services, social platforms, books, music, posters, billboards and films — and, activists fear, in any public space as well.
The proposed laws are part of an intensifying effort by President Vladimir V. Putin to cast Russia as fighting a civilizational struggle against the West, which he accuses of trying to export corrosive values.
Kremlin critics see the proposals as an attempt to create an internal enemy to divert attention from battlefield setbacks and an unpopular draft of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
It’s the equivalent of saying, ‘Look, we have this special operation. If we lose, your kids will have their gender changed, they’ll take your kids away, it’ll be the stuff of nightmares,’” said Dr. Nikolai Lunchenkov, a physician
the new laws could be used to shut down film and book festivals, prevent medical services, and more.
Violating the laws would carry stiff penalties. Any business that showed images of a family with two mothers or two fathers, for example, could be fined up to 5 million rubles, or about $81,400. (Individuals would face fines up to 400,000 rubles, about $6,500.) Movies featuring queer people could be denied distribution.
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Putin Chef’s Kisses of Death: Russia’s Shadow Army’s State-Run Structure Exposed – bellingcat
— Read on www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/08/14/pmc-structure-exposed/
Yevgeny Prigozhin can be described as the Renaissance man of deniable Russian black ops. An ex convict who served time for robbery, fraud and involving a minor in drinking and criminal activity, he began his legitimate business career in the 90s as a St. Petersburg restaurant owner and later as caterer for the Kremlin.
his unofficial operations fit the profile of an authoritarian state’s shadow security apparatus: industrial-scale manufacturing of fake-news, intimidating journalists, election interference, political engineering, and actual clandestine military operations.
Prigozhin was famously indicted in the US over the role of his troll factory in trying to influence the 2016 elections in favor of Donald Trump, a charge he flatly denies to this day. His troll-factory generated one of the largest known online disinformation campaigns, churning out 71,000 tweets aimed at presenting Russia’s version of events in the downing of flight MH17. The same troll infrastructure posted thousands of messages promoting Brexit. Prigozhin has also been linked to Kremlin-friendly political engineering across dozens of African countries while he has been sanctioned by the US over his funding for the Wagner Group, an unincorporated private military company with a history of clandestine operations in Eastern Ukraine, Syria and several African countries. It was most recently accused of placing booby-trapped minesaround Libya’s Tripoli. The EU has yet to sanction him or his metastatic group over any of his activities.
widespread lack of motivation, infighting and alcohol-driven dysfunction at these operations, more indicative of bloated, government-funded junkets than a private operation with clear goals and outcomes.
Prigozhin’s troll-farm operations transitioning from a purely domestic political tool – used primarily to trash opposition figures and independent journalists – to an ambitious international operation with more and more efforts allocated to foreign interference operations – first in Ukraine, and later globally.
By early 2014….Russia needed quick – and deniable – military presence in Crimea, the concept of a private, legally unincorporated, shadow army employing skilled soldiers with prior combat experience, appeared to be the perfect solution.
By March 2014, Russian “mercenaries” were already in Ukraine, and the Wagner legend had been born. After the unit’s successful initial deployment in Crimea and Donbass, in 2015 the unit received a permanent training base at a top-secret GRU facility at the village of Molkyno, near Krasnodar airpport. Wagner’s largest international deployment so far has been in Syria, where according to a former Wagner officer, at least 2,500 mercenaries were deployed, under the GRU’s and FSB’s supervision, to assist pro-government Syrian forces.
In 2018 and 2019, western and Russian media began reporting on a growing presence of Russian political strategists in various African countries, offering to provide electoral support – including cash, advice and personal protection – to Russia-friendly candidates.
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www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/28/russia-fsb-moldova-manipulation/
Moldovan and U.S. officials fear the Kremlin’s efforts to subvert Moldova, part of a campaign that dates back decades, could only intensify if it suffers further losses in Ukraine.
Moldova, which along with Ukraine was granted E.U. candidacy status in June, is particularly vulnerable to Russian pressure because of its near 100 percent dependence on Russian gas.
They are very embarrassed about the entire Ukraine operation, and they need a success somewhere,” Oleg Serebrian, Moldova’s deputy prime minister, said in an interview. “My personal fear is that Moldova is an easier target than Ukraine. So, for a kind of moral rearmament of Russian society, they could use different tools in Moldova. The first one is the economic one.”
Law, Power, and Justice 
