© Reuters. SUBMIT IMAGE: Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the head office of the Southern Armed Force District amidst the group’s pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
( Reuters) – Yevgeny Prigozhin’s media holding group is to close down, the director of among its outlets stated, highlighting the mercenary chief’s aggravating fortunes a week after the collapse of a short mutiny staged by his Wagner Group fighters.
Under an offer that stopped the mutiny, Prigozhin, a previous ally of President Vladimir Putin, was permitted to go into exile in Belarus and his guys provided the option of joining him, being incorporated into Russia’s militaries or returning house.
Patriot Media, whose most popular outlet was the RIA FAN news website, had actually taken a highly nationalist, pro-Kremlin editorial line, while likewise offering favorable protection of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group.
” I am revealing our choice to shut down and to leave the nation’s details area,” RIA FAN director Yevgeny Zubarev stated in a video published late on Saturday on the holding’s social networks accounts.
Zubarev provided no factor for the choice.
Russian paper Kommersant reported on Friday that the nation’s interactions guard dog Roskomnadzor had actually obstructed media outlets connected to Prigozhin, without elaborating. The guard dog might not be reached on Sunday for remark.
Russian media have actually likewise reported that a “giant factory” supposedly utilized by Prigozhin to affect popular opinion in foreign nations consisting of the United States had actually been dissolved.
In his video post, Zubarev applauded Patriot Media’s record, stating it had actually safeguarded both Prigozhin and Putin from attacks by the anti-Kremlin opposition, consisting of imprisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny.
The Patriot Group had actually worked “versus Alexei Navalny and other agents of the opposition who truly attempted to damage our nation”, he stated.
In spite of the abortive mutiny, Russian authorities have not formally banned the Wagner Group, however Putin stated on Tuesday the financial resources of Prigozhin’s catering company would be examined.
He stated Wagner and its creator had actually gotten nearly $2 billion from Russia in the previous year.
Wagner’s guys have actually battled a few of the bloodiest fights of the 16-month war in Ukraine, and its ranks have actually consisted of countless ex-prisoners hired from Russian prisons.
Under Prigozhin’s management, the group has actually turned into a vast worldwide company with mining interests and fighters in Africa and the Middle East.
It was established in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and began supporting pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area.
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