The murky, ruthless private army tycoon getting rich from Putin’s wars

A mysterious syndicate of private soldiers, many brutal Russian convicts, is doing the dirtiest work for Putin in Ukraine, Syria and Africa. Yevgeny Prigozhin, an enigmatic ex-con who built a business empire from a hot dog stand, rents his Wagner Group mercenary army to Putin in exchange for lucrative mining and oil assets. Prigozhin has a history of hiring U.S. and U.K. lawyers to legally demolish journalists who get too close to his business. Some journalists have ended up dead. That hasn’t stopped investigative reporter Miles Johnson from digging into Prigozhin’s convoluted operation. Johnson joins host Brian Lilley to explain what the Wagner Group is all about, and the truth about Prigozhin that is now finally being exposed. (Recorded February 10, 2023)

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