‘Putin’s chef’ is also a media mogul

Russian leader Vladimir Putin being served food by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin in Moscow in 2011. PHOTO: AP

St. Petersburg restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been dubbed “Putin’s chef” and indicted for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, is believed to control more than a dozen news portals in Russia that serve as an important state propaganda weapon.

An investigation by the respected

RBC business magazine and reports by other Russian media have revealed the connection of his media portals to other Prigozhin assets, including the ‘troll farm’. 12 of whose operatives were indicted.

The troll factory, named ‘Internet Research Agency’, initially operated under the same roof with the Federal News Agency and other media outlets that allegedly belong to Prigozhin, but later they split and moved to different buildings on the northern edge of St. Petersburg.

RBC reported that Mikhail Burchik, one of the indicted troll farm operatives, also played a key role in Prigozhin’s holdings.

15 news portals

Just three years after their creation in 2014, the Federal News Agency and 15 other news portals allegedly under Prigozhin’s control had more than 30 million monthly visitors, surpassing Russia’s top state news agencies.

They have covered a wide range of subjects, from foreign policy to economy to celebrities. And while their profiles differed, the editorial course was an identical adulation of President Vladimir Putin and a stinging criticism of the West.

Moscow-based political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin noted that along with the troll farm and private military contractors, the media business is part of Prigozhin’s efforts to curry favour with Mr. Putin.