Kremlin keeps financing Wagner Group through government contracts
The fact that companies belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin, financier of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), have been awarded state contracts amounting to at least RUB 2 billion a month [roughly US$21.2 million] following the mutiny suggests that the Russian authorities have probably preserved the scheme of financing the Wagner Group.
Source: Russian opposition media outlet Agentstvo (Agency)
Details: Companies associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin have secured at least RUB 2 billion worth of government contracts over the month since the military coup. Remarkably, the firms belonging to Putin's chef [i.e. Prigozhin] managed to keep their hands on large orders for hot lunches for schoolchildren in suburban Moscow, the Agency found after analysing data from the Russian state procurement website.
"This likely indicates that the authorities have retained the scheme to implicitly finance Wagner PMC operations in Africa," the news outlet writes.
The Agency assessed government contracts concluded with 17 companies to understand whether Prigozhin is still managing to secure government contracts.
Over the past month, Prigozhin's firms have received major contracts to provide hot meals for schoolchildren in settlements in Moscow Oblast. The administration of the town of Mytishchi in Moscow Oblast will pay RUB 705 million [roughly US$7.5 million] to the Social Nutrition Centre, and the administration of the city of Krasnogorsk will pay RUB 935 million [roughly US$9.9 million] to the Prodfoodservice company.
"This indicates that a group of companies owned by Putin's chef has managed to retain two large government customers in Moscow Oblast," the media outlet emphasised.
The Artek Children's Centre extended its cooperation with Prigozhin's companies. It will pay RUB 260 million [roughly US$2.7 million] to the Preschool Food Plant for meals for children in 2023.
Prigozhin's companies also received contracts from several healthcare facilities in Moscow and Moscow Oblast following the mutiny. Contracts were also concluded with RussoCapital and AVK.
All of the contracts analysed were concluded with civilian government agencies.
Information on state contracts for military catering cannot be found on the public procurement website, as it is classified. However, the fact that Prigozhin's companies supply food to the Russian military has been previously confirmed by the founder of the Wagner PMC himself, as well as by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The existence of a scheme to finance Wagner PMC operations in Africa through government contracts was admitted by Prigozhin himself in a letter to the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu posted by the former's press service on 10 June.
Prigozhin said pro-Russian activities in Africa, Syria, and other Arab countries were funded through Russian government contracts managed by his Concord company group. The businessman said RUB 147 billion [roughly US$1.5 billion] have been channelled through them since 2006.
After Prigozhin's mutiny, Vladimir Putin admitted that the Russian government financed Wagner PMC mainly through state contracts for military catering. Putin said the PMC generated about RUB 80 billion in just one year [roughly US$851.8 million].
The Wall Street Journal estimated that Prigozhin's firms received more than US$5 billion in government contracts in Russia between 2014 and the end of 2022. Following the coup, TV presenter and Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov on the Rossiya 1 TV programme Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week) mentioned an even higher amount in terms of state contracts received by Prigozhin's firms – RUB 1.7 trillion [roughly US$18 billion].
Bloomberg reported that Prigozhin would retain some of his operations in Africa after the coup.
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