The investigative publication "Proekt" published details of the biography of Yevgeny Prigozhin, which were previously not widely known. In particular, the journalists found out that the founder of the PMC beat his subordinates, was treated for cancer, and was also a supporter of war communism.
All the sources that The Project spoke to noted Prigozhin's irascible nature. “If you are dissatisfied with something, you could easily lead out into the corridor, push – and you will fly down the stairs,” one of them said. Another interlocutor of the publication told the following story: “Once Prigozhin was in a hurry and displeasedly kicked the driver from the back seat with his foot in the head: “Like, come on faster.” After this incident, the driver quit.
Violence was put on stream in Prigozhin's office, for this there was a special person, eyewitnesses say.
“This is an executioner who fucks you in the basement, and sends you a photo [Prigozhin], and you decide whether to add [hitting] or enough,” Vyacheslav Tarasov, in the past one of the important employees of the office, said in his video message on the day of the rebellion on June 24.
The Project published an example of how Prigozhin communicates with a subordinate, for example, with an employee of the PR department who prepared the advertising layouts:
“Billboards are TOTAL SHIT of the rest only the press breakfast the rest is ALSO SHIT IN GENERAL TOTALLY STUPID BASTER!!!”
Also, the "Project" showed the same photograph with the cut off heads of Africans, which was previously reported in the media. She, enclosed in a frame, was found during a search in Prigogine's house. This picture was previously reported by Fontanka, but the picture is published without cuts for the first time.
Prigozhin's acquaintances say that he had specific views, he was a supporter of war communism. In particular, former employee Vyacheslav Tarasov, in his address to Prigozhin on the day of the rebellion, said:
“Your ideal is war communism, and executions excite you most of all in it. Of course, “for the good of the motherland”, but only you personally will decide who to shoot, there is no law, only your opinion and your decision. Helicopter crews will not let you lie.”
As the Project found out from Prigozhin's acquaintances, the founder of the PMC had been treated for abdominal cancer for a long time and underwent serious therapy. “He had cancer. Now the process of tumor formation seems to be stopped, ”said one of the interlocutors of the publication.
Due to illness, Prigozhin follows a strict diet and leads a healthy lifestyle – for example, one of his long-term employees only once saw the Chef drink a glass of lemonade. Despite the fact that during searches of Prigozhin's house, briquettes with some kind of "white powder" were found, the interlocutors of the "Project" say that they have never seen him take drugs. “Since he first fell ill and then recovered, he forbade everyone to communicate with drug traffickers in Africa or Syria. They will put them in a pit, ”said one of his subordinates.
Those around Prigozhin tend to attribute the rebellion to its impulsive nature. He himself, when asked what it was, he allegedly answered his employees like this: “He went crazy.”