Timeline: What led to stand-off between Russia’s leadership and Prigozhin

MOSCOW – For years, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary leader who conducted

a brief rebellion against the Russian military,

had been a loyal supporter of President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

As his mercenaries fought for Russia in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he continued to steer clear of directly criticising Mr Putin, even as he increasingly used social media to lambaste Russia’s military,

accusing its leaders of treason

and blaming them for failing to provide his forces with enough resources.

But tensions reached a head in June when Prigozhin led

a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s top military

leadership

– throwing the future of the paramilitary chief and his fighters into question.

Here’s a look at Prigozhin’s history:

December 2016

The United States imposes sanctions against 15 Russian entities, including Prigozhin, for their dealings in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and in Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists seized territory the same year. The Treasury Department targets business people who are associates of Mr Putin or are involved in activities that aided in Russia’s destabilisation of Ukraine.

February 2018

Prigozhin is one of 13 Russians indicted by a federal grand jury in the US for interfering in the 2016 presidential election through the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory that spread falsehoods and waged information warfare in support of the campaign of former US president Donald Trump.

September 2022

Prigozhin publicly acknowledges for the first time that he is the founder of the Wagner mercenary organisation, whose fighters are deployed alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Previously, Wagner fighters operated in support of the Kremlin’s military campaigns in Africa and the Middle East, occasionally battling against US forces.

October 2022

Prigozhin is one of two powerful supporters of Mr Putin to publicly turn on Russia’s military leadership after it orders a retreat from Lyman, a city in eastern Ukraine, emphasising that pulling back is a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.

November 2022

Just a day before the US midterms,

Prigozhin sardonically boasts that Russia is interfering in the election.

“Gentlemen, we have interfered, we do interfere and we will interfere,” Prigozhin says in a statement posted by his catering company.

“We will do it carefully, precisely, surgically as we are capable of doing it. During our targeted operations, we will remove both kidneys and liver at once.”

At this time, Wagner troops are advancing on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been under Russian attack for months.

February 2023

Prigozhin accuses two Russian military leaders of treason

in a series of hostile audio messages. He claims that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov are withholding ammunition and supplies from his fighters to try to destroy Wagner.

Earlier in the month, Prigozhin says that Wagner will no longer recruit fighters from Russian prisons, a practice that raised criticism from human rights groups but helped fuel Moscow’s advances in eastern Ukraine.

May 2023

Prigozhin issues a series of inflammatory statements. He once again accuses Russia’s military bureaucracy of starving Wagner forces of necessary ammunition and threatens to withdraw them from Bakhmut. Days later, he appears to backtrack on that threat after saying he has been promised more arms.

In late May, Wagner forces say they have captured Bakhmut, a claim it made previously as well. Ukrainian officials quickly deny the claim, but days later acknowledge the loss of the city. Russian state media keeps Prigozhin’s name out of its coverage of those events.

Earlier in the month, Prigozhin dismisses a report from The Washington Post saying that leaked intelligence shows he offered to disclose Russian army positions to Ukraine.

June 2023

Tensions between Prigozhin and Russia’s military rise higher in early June. Prigozhin says Wagner will not comply with an order that requires it to sign a formal contract with Russia’s Defence Ministry by July.

The feud rapidly escalates later in the month when Prigozhin releases a 30-minute video in which he describes his country’s invasion of Ukraine as a “racket” perpetrated by a corrupt elite chasing money and glory without concern for Russian lives.

He also challenges the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine had been on the verge of attacking Russian-backed separatist territory in Ukraine’s east when Russia invaded.

“The war wasn’t needed to return Russian citizens to our bosom, nor to demilitarise or ‘denazify’ Ukraine,” Prigozhin says, referring to Mr Putin’s initial justifications for the war.

“The war was needed so that a bunch of animals could simply exult in glory.”

Prigozhin also accuses Mr Shoigu

of orchestrating a deadly attack with missiles and helicopters

on camps to the rear of the Russian lines in Ukraine, where his soldiers are bivouacked.

The Defence Ministry denies the allegations, saying in a statement that the messages Prigozhin posted about supposed strikes on Wagner camps “do not correspond to reality”. His account of the attacks remains unconfirmed.

On June 23,

Mr Putin mobilises Russian troops to defend Moscow

from what he calls an armed rebellion by Prigozhin, whose forces claim control of Rostov-on-Don and are seen moving north along a highway towards the Russian capital.

Then, in a surprise turn of events, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says he has secured Prigozhin’s agreement to halt his forces’ advance. Prigozhin confirms that he is turning his forces around.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Prigozhin will flee to Belarus and that Russia’s military operations in Ukraine will continue unchanged.

July 2023

Amid swirling questions over Prigozhin’s whereabouts, unverified photographs circulate on social media suggesting that the Wagner chief is meeting with African officials in St Petersburg, where some of the continent’s top leaders have converged for a summit with Mr Putin. A few days later, a recording circulates with a voice that appears to be his saying that Wagner has paused recruiting while figuring out its “next tasks”.

August 2023

Prigozhin is seen in an unverified video message posted on Aug 21 on Telegram channels affiliated with his Wagner forces, appearing to recruit for the group’s operations in Africa.

On Aug 23, the Russian aviation authorities say that

he is listed as a passenger on a plane that crashed

, killing all 10 people aboard. NYTIMES