‘Putin’s chef ’ charged with vote meddling
MOSCOW — He’s known as
“Putin’s chef,” a wealthy Russian businessman and restaurateur who gained favor with Vladimir Putin through his stomach.
On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin — along with 12 other Russians and three Russian organizations — was charged by the U.S. government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
According to the indictment, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based group that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to influence the White House race.
“Americans are very impressionable people. They see what they want to see,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying Friday on Russian state news agency Ria-novosti. “I treat them with great respect. I’m not at all upset that I’m on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.”
A one-time hot dog stand owner, Prigozhin opened one of the swankiest restaurants in St. Petersburg and drew interest from Putin.
“Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk,” Prigozhin recalled in an interview published in 2011.
Over the years Prigozhin’s businesses have expanded significantly.
The U.S. Department of State last December put Prigozhin on its sanctions list along with other individuals for “having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, senior officials of the Russian Federation,” adding that he has “extensive business dealings” with the Russian Defense Ministry.