Lubov Prigozhina, the wife of Eugene Prigogine, the head of the Wagnerian army. Screenshot Twitter / @LvivJournal
She remains in the shadows, but at the age of 53, this Russian businesswoman and mother of three children has become one of the staunch supporters of the bloodthirsty army leader Wagner.
She is the wife of the oligarch Yevgeny Prigogine, the fearsome leader of Wagner’s army. Or the one nicknamed “Vladimir Putin’s chef,” the one who has long served fine meals to the Kremlin strongman and made his fortune thanks to a fast-food chain. If she remains in the shadow of her husband, 53-year-old Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina is nevertheless one of his steadfast supporters, the one who shared his life for more than twenty years.
Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigogine. (Saint Petersburg, September 20, 2010). ALEXEI DRUZHIN / AFP
In the video, a Ukrainian couple gets married at the defense line in Kiev
Dating on campus
According to several pages on the Internet, it was on the university benches that Lyubov Valentinovna Prigozhina would meet the former prisoner, who would later become a close friend of Vladimir Putin’s relatives. Their romance dates back to the 1990s without any specific date being official.
After ten years behind bars, Eugénie Prigogine took control of her destiny by studying chemistry and pharmacy. Unfortunately, it was during this time that he would fall in love with his future wife, nine years younger than him. Then we know almost nothing. Except that the couple had three children: two daughters Polina and Veronika (born in 1992 and 2005, respectively), and son Pavel (born in 1998).
Under the influence of international sanctions
Today, Lubov Prigozhina would play a very important role with her husband. The owner of several health centers and a chain of chocolate shops (“Chocolate Museum”) in St. Petersburg, he would indeed be discreet in the organizational chart of the head of a group of Russian mercenaries. As evidence, she would be the owner of Agat LLC, a subsidiary of Concord Management and Consulting LLC, part of the Concord Group, which was founded and owned until 2019 by her husband.
in April Financial Times Furthermore, Lyubov Prigozhina and her children “play various roles in Prigozhine’s commercial enterprise” which benefits from “his privileged status in the Russian elite”. Based on this observation, the Western countries did not hesitate to target the Russian businesswoman through international sanctions since the beginning of the Ukrainian war. One who is “linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is responsible for deploying Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine and benefited from large contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and occupation of eastern Ukraine.” by Russian-sponsored separatists,” says the report on the freezing of his assets effective from February 2022.
However, like Vladimir Putin’s partner, former gymnast and Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, Lyubov Prigozhina prefers to stay off the radar. No doubt a strategy to enjoy her lifestyle away from the chaos her longtime husband is creating in Ukraine. Or just for protection.
Source: Le Figaro
