Putin faces challenge from his own creation

It took a characteristically long time for Vladimir Putin to respond to the coup-that-dare-not-speak-its-name launched by Yevgeny Prigozhin, but when his statement came, it was steeped in bitterness. And no wonder, for Prigozhin was essentially Putin’s creation, and we know that Putin’s greatest venom is reserved for those he considers traitors.

An ex-con who moved into the hot dog business and then finer dining options, Prigozhin’s early restaurant business in 1990s St Petersburg was given a dramatic boost by the patronage of the deputy mayor, one Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin’s Concord business group expanded dramatically, moving first into supermarkets, then everything from real estate to advertising, but almost always on the back of sweetheart contracts from the government once Putin was president.

It is not that he was ever a friend or close confidant of the president. Rather, he became one of the Kremlin’s go-to businesspeople, ready to do whatever needed doing, for a fat fee.