“He had no idea that this would be his farewell tour”: the last days of Yevgeny Prigozhin

What did Yevgeny Prigozhin do before getting on the plane that cost him his life? In an extensive investigation published in late August, the American daily The Wall Street Journal traced the last days of Russian militia leader Wagner, who died Wednesday, August 23, in a plane crash 100 kilometers north of Moscow. According to the American press, Yevgeny Prigozhin visited several countries in Africa to try to “save his empire” and “plan the future.”

A video allegedly filmed shortly before his death, posted Wednesday evening on Telegram, confirms that Wagner’s chief was on the African continent. “For those who are wondering if I’m alive and how I’m doing: it’s the second half of August 2023, and I’m in Africa,” he says, looking at the camera, on board a moving car, without specifying the country where he is. located. “I’m fine,” he adds.

Already on Monday, August 21, two days before his death, the former “Vladimir Putin’s chef” appeared on a video broadcast on Telegram, but without a date, in military uniform, body armor and a machine gun in his hands, on African territory, then not yet identified. “We are working. Wagner is making Russia still great on all continents, and Africa is freer,” he said.

What was he really doing? Through dozens of interviews and a study of his private jet’s flight logs, The Wall Street Journal has been able to decipher the 62-year-old paramilitary leader’s latest movements and actions. “He had no idea this was going to be his farewell tour,” writes the New York daily.

appease African countries

According to the American newspaper, on Friday before his death, the head of Wagner landed in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to discuss with President Touadéra and his head of intelligence, his regime largely depends on the presence of Russian mercenaries on its soil.

Since Prigozhin’s failed coup in Russia in late June, the Kremlin has sought to strengthen its ties with some African countries and take control of the warlord’s dense and opaque network. In addition to the 5,000 people dependent on a paramilitary group stationed on the African continent, Wagner has managed in recent years to create a nebula of front companies and various holding companies in Africa in the field of construction, finance or exploitation of natural resources.

Therefore, Yevgeny Prigozhin would like to personally assure the President of the Central African Republic of his support and the strength of their ties, assuring him that his failed insurgency “will not prevent him from attracting new fighters and investments for his commercial partners. Africa,” reports the American newspaper.

Transfer of gold bars

Shortly after meeting with Touadera, Yevgeny Prigozhin received in Bangui a delegation of five commanders of the Sudan Rapid Support Force (RSF), a paramilitary group dependent on Wagner. The latter gave him a cargo of gold bars from the mines of Darfur. According to the American press, it was a “gift” for him to thank him for the recent delivery of surface-to-air missiles.

At the same time, on the other side of the Sahara, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov was visiting Libya to convey a “contradictory message” to the “Wagner countries,” The Wall Street Journal emphasizes. On Tuesday, August 22, the day before Prigozhin’s plane crashed, Yunus-bek Yevkurov met with General Khalifa Haftar to forge a partnership between the two armies. The soldier reportedly told him that he had doubts about Wagner’s reliability.

Then Yevgeny Prigozhin made a stop in Mali. It was from there that he traveled to Russia along with his personal bodyguards, including his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, a former special military intelligence officer and operational commander of Wagner. It was then that during the connection between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the military leader disappeared.