Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin had strongly hinted that corruption charges against Wagner chief Evgeny Prigozhin could be on the horizon, given the mercenary firm had received billions in state funds. Putin said this while explaining in a speech that the treason charges against him were essentially forgiven, as he was exiled to Belarus.
Putin further specified in the days following the brief uprising attempt of June 23-24 that Wagner had long been supplied and financed from the state budget and Defense Ministry. This large investment perhaps explains why the group became so indispensable to operations in Ukraine. But it is all now being investigated.
The president affirmed, in statements made to high-ranking officers, according to state media translation that Between May 2022 and May 2023, the Russian authorities allocated 86.26 billion rubles ($1.04 billion) for wages and incentive payments for the Wagner fighters, the president revealed. Additionally, Wagner founder Evgeny Prigozhin, who also co-owns the Concord catering company, earned billions of rubles on state contracts, Putin added.
"When the upkeep of the Wagner Group rested on the shoulders of the state, the Concord owner received… 80 billion rubles ($960 million) from the state in a year by supplying food products to the army," Putin said. "I hope that no one stole anything while fulfilling these [contracts]," Putin had said, emphasizing that authorities will "certainly dig into it."
Other Russian officials have since provided further details which reveal the extent of Prigozhin's vast wealth and holdings.
Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, said in a Sunday interview which was subsequently translated and featured in state sources that in total Wagner "has received a little more than 858 billion rubles ($9.8 billion) under the contracts it signed with the state."
That totals just under $10 billion worth of just defense-related contracts. There's a similar, separate sum being estimated additionally through his catering company, Concord (also referenced in the above Putin quote)...
Russian state TV ways Wagner got 858bn rubles in state contracts and Concord, Prigozhin's catering company, got a further 845bn.
— max seddon (@maxseddon) July 2, 2023
That's a total of $19bn at today's exchange rate, though given how it's way more than Putin said it may be an all-time figure. A huge sum either way pic.twitter.com/cFfgVEEdVb
In total that's equivalent to $19 billion. "This does not mean that they have earned so much, but it is still indicative of the scale of the business and the scale of ambitions,” Kiselyov qualified, however. He assessed further:
He went on to point out that Prigozhin’s company had a strong media clout, adding that some people might have had the impression that the Wagner Group was the most capable frontline unit Russia had.
Stressing that he did not want to "detract from anybody’s merits," Kiselyov recalled that regular Russian units had been faster in capturing the heavily defended city of Mariupol than Wagner troops were in seizing the Donbass stronghold of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine).
Kiselyov's words are important and are a likely direct reflection of Kremlin thinking and consensus on the matter, given that as head of the large state-run Rossiya Segodnya media group, he was directly appointed by Putin (starting in 2013). Rossiya Segodnya owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI, and multiple other entities overseen by the state.
Currently it looks like Wagner's assets in Russia will be absorbed by the defense ministry and government; however, there remains speculation over what will become of the St. Peterburg-based group's foreign contracts and assets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov days ago said that contracts signed between Wagner and African states will be up for the respective governments to decide the future of. So far there's been no sign that Wagner has abandoned its extensive dealings and presence in Africa.
