Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian warlord presumed dead in plane crash, was of Jewish descent
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.
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
