Unofficial Telegram channels in Russia say that according to the terms of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s will, his assets and control of his business empire have been bequeathed to his 25-year-old son, Pavel.
One of the channels, Port, claims to have obtained a copy of Prigozhin’s will and published an image of it.
Prigozhin was killed in a private jet crash in August. The document, said to have been notarized on March 2, purportedly designates Pavel Prigozhin as the sole inheritor of the Wagner founder’s extensive assets, including those of the mercenary group
The unofficial publication suggests Pavel Prigozhin filed an application for inheritance on September 8.
Port also claimed that Pavel Prigozhin is set to collect all debts owed to his father, estimating the Russian Defense Ministry owed Prigozhin’s business empire as much as $800 million. It is impossible to verify this figure.
Remember: In June, following Prigozhin’s short-lived mutiny, President Vladimir Putin said the Wagner founder’s businesses had received 86 billion rubles (or about $850 million) from the defense ministry between May 2022 and May 2023. In addition, Prigozhin’s Concord catering company made 80 billion rubles from state contracts to supply food to the Russian army, Putin said at the time.
Telegram channels associated with Wagner have claimed Pavel Prigozhin is actively negotiating the return of Wagner personnel to the combat zone in Ukraine. The claims cannot be verified, and it’s unclear whether Wagner fighters would be absorbed into different military structures.
Telegram channel GreyZone, which frequently reported on Wagner and Prigozhin, asserted that Pavel Prigozhin was negotiating with the Russian reserve force Rosgvardia on the return of Wagner fighters to the war in Ukraine.
Rosgvardia received much of Wagner’s heavy weaponry after the private military company was disarmed following the mutiny.
CNN cannot independently verify these reports, or the authenticity of the will.
