Gold, Guns, Drugs, Mercenaries: Inside A 28-Year-Old Russian's Empire

Pavel Prigozhin is running a business empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and he is only 28 years of age. It includes gold mines, arms trading, a mercenary force and a drug business. He oversees around 500 mercenaries from Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

He took over the empire after the death of his father, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former head of the Wagner Group, in a private jet crash in Russia in August 2023. Pavel was only 25 at the time. 

His father had built Wagner into a powerful force that fought in Ukraine and operated across several African countries. He died two months after leading a brief rebellion against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since then, Pavel has managed to hold on to Wagner's operations in the Central African Republic (CAR) and expand them, according to The Washington Post.

The family business, which includes legal and criminal activities, generates more than $400 million a year, according to estimates by the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Pavel was known for his lavish lifestyle from a young age. Photos shared on social media showed him aboard private jets and on the family's luxury yacht, according to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a non-profit linked to late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

When Pavel turned 20, Yevgeny put him in charge of the family's luxury villas and apartment buildings, researchers said. Yevgeny, who had two other children, considered Pavel his successor, according to investigative group All Eyes on Wagner.

He also worked to build his son's image as a Russian patriot. Social media posts showed Pavel fighting in Syria's civil war, where he received Wagner's Black Cross for bravery. He later served as an intelligence officer and drone operator in Ukraine.

"My son is already taking part in the special military operation," Yevgeny said online six months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Wagner deployed fighters in Mali to protect the military government for $10 million a month, according to the Pentagon-funded Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In Libya, its men secured oil wells in rebel-controlled areas. In Sudan, the group supplied surface-to-air missiles to the Rapid Support Forces in exchange for gold.

The Central African Republic became one of its most profitable operations. Wagner took control of mines and sold minerals, with the proceeds shared between the group and the government.

In 2023, his fighters entered the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and threatened to march towards Moscow, accusing military officials of failing to provide enough ammunition and support in Ukraine.

"Our men die because you treat them like meat," Yevgeny said in a video. "No ammo, no plans." He later called off the rebellion after reaching an agreement. Two months later, his private jet crashed, killing him, Wagner's top military commander and eight other people

The Kremlin then took control of Wagner's businesses in Russia and created the Africa Corps to bring its African operations under the Russian Defence Ministry and military intelligence.

After his father's death, Pavel travelled to Bangui to meet Dmitry Sytii, a former confidant of Yevgeny, and Denis Suprunov, Wagner's local military commander. He also held meetings with senior government officials, according to researchers and security officials. He helped bring Wagner mercenaries into the country's police, army and intelligence services.

"Bangui fought harder than any other capital to maintain the regime-protection-for-minerals arrangement precisely because it had worked so well," said Justyna Gudzowska, executive director of Washington-based investigative group The Sentry.

"When it comes to operations in the Central African Republic, Pavel has followed in his father's footsteps with ease," said Nathalia Dukhan, a senior researcher at the organisation.

Wagner has also entered the drinks business. It sells vodka called Wa Wa Wa, or Fire and Fire, and beer called Africa Ti L'Or, meaning Africa is Gold. The group also controls much of the local market for tramadol, a prescription opioid, according to the report.

Lou Osborn, an investigator with Switzerland-based non-profit Inpact, which tracks Wagner's activities in Africa, said the group had changed from a military force into something more closely linked to organised crime.

"Wagner went from a powerful special-forces group to a disowned network which seems to be falling into organized crime," Osborn said.