Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's private army of Wagner mercenaries, has become a prominent public figure in Russia and has gained a niche among conservatives. Prigozhin, who spent most of the 1980s in Soviet jails for armed robbery and recruiting children into a gang, has stepped out of the shadows and into the limelight of Russian politics.
Polls show that Prigozhin has become a recognisable public figure among conservative Russians who revere Soviet leader Josef Stalin and want to win the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin has criticized Stalin's WWII policies, stating that the death penalty for servicemen and officials who fail to support the faltering war effort would be similar to Stalin's WWII policies.
He also stated that after losing tens of thousands of mercenaries in eastern Ukraine, his Wagner Group will need to recruit more people and "transform into an army with an ideology." In late May, Prigozhin toured Russia and gave four press conferences.
Some observers believe that Prigozhin's transformation may be part of the Kremlin's power transfer plan in case of a collapse similar to the "Times of Trouble" between the death of Czar Ivan the Terrible and the ascension of the Romanov dynasty four centuries ago.
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