Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian warlord presumed dead in plane crash, was of Jewish descent

In Russia, his background was not an asset

Yevgeny Prigozhin Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

By Zach Golden August 23, 2023

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who tried to topple the Russian government in June and is reportedly among those who died in a plane crash Wednesday, had a father and stepfather of Jewish ancestry.

Prigozhin, 62, did not advertise his Jewish heritage, and Russian nationalists have raised it to discredit him in a country where antisemitism is widespread.

The mercenary group he led was named for the antisemitic composer Richard Wagner. The Wagner Group, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has relied on in his campaign against Ukraine, was founded by Dimitry Utkin who reportedly had a swastika tattoo.

Utkin and the eight other passengers on the private aircraft headed from Moscow to St. Petersburg are also presumed to have died in the crash. Utkin and Prigozhin are listed on the plane’s manifest.

Prigozhin dominated the news in June after he took over a military installment and began a march on Moscow. About 100 miles from the city, Prigozhin backed down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a deal that sent Prigozhin, his former ally, into exile in Belarus. CIA director William Burns, among many others in the intelligence community, predicted that Putin would not let Prigozhin live long. A Wagner-linked Telegram channel claimed that Russian forces shot down the plane.

Zach Golden is Deputy Yiddish Editor. He is also a co-founder and rabbi of the synagogue and cultural center Der Nister in Los Angeles. He can be reached at golden@forward.com.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO