Wagner survives despite Prigogine's death... 28-year-old son expands business

(New York = Yonhap News) Correspondent Soo-jeong Lim = The son of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash while leading an armed rebellion in Russia, is said to be making huge profits by inheriting the African business of his father's private mercenary company, the Wagner Group.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 18th (local time) that Prigozhin's son, Pavel Prigozhin (28), has been growing his business in the Central African Republic, the Wagner Group's key African base, since his father's death.

The Wagner Group is a private mercenary organization that has been carrying out military operations in Ukraine and Africa with the support of the Russian government. In Africa, they increased their power by securing interests in the development of natural resources such as gold mines in return for providing military support to local regimes.

Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, died in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023, and Pavel, then 25, took over his father's major business.

Pavel was known as a 'rich man' who enjoyed a luxurious life in private jets and ultra-luxurious yachts during his youth, but he is said to have demonstrated his ingenuity in the mercenary business after his father's death.

According to the Global Initiative to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, an international crime research institute headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the annual income generated from the legal and illegal businesses of the Prigozhin family, including the Wagner Group, is estimated to exceed $400 million (approximately KRW 535.1 billion).

Approximately 500 mercenaries commanded by Pavel are controlling gold mines in the Central African Republic, providing personal security for President Postin Arcand Touadera, and carrying out counterinsurgency operations.

Based on this military influence, the Wagner Group expanded its business into not only gold mining but also arms trading, drug distribution, and alcohol production.

It is known that Pavel inherited the arms trading network established by his father and sold weapons to rebels in Sudan and Libya.

The support of the Central African Republic government was crucial in allowing Pavel to maintain his father's business.

After Prigozhin's death in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin took control of the Wagner Group's business in Russia and attempted to absorb African mercenary organizations into the 'African Legion' under the Ministry of Defense.

However, President Touadera, who has relied on military support from the Wagner Group amid the threat of rebels, requested the Russian government not to replace the existing Wagner mercenaries with regular Russian troops.

President Touadera also tried to maintain Pavel's influence by incorporating Wagner mercenaries into the local military, police, and intelligence agencies.

Pavel lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, and travels regularly to and from Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to manage his business.

There is also an analysis that the Russian government is effectively tolerating Pavel's business activities.

“The fact that Pavel is allowed to continue operating could mean that he has reached some sort of agreement with the Kremlin, or that the Russian government has decided he is not a threat,” said Lou Osborne, a researcher at the Swiss nonprofit Impact.

There are also concerns that the Wagner Group is degenerating beyond a military organization into an organized crime group.

According to WSJ, Wagner mercenaries chased down and assaulted a dealer who was operating independently outside of their drug distribution network in the Central African Republic. This merchant has since disappeared and his fate has not been confirmed.

Investigator Osborne said, “Wagner used to be a powerful special forces group, but after escaping from the support of the Russian government, it appears to have gradually fallen into organized crime.”