Pavlo Prigozhin retains father's African business and earns over $400m a year

The deceased leader of the private military company Wagner left his 28-year-old son Pavlo not only personal assets worth 12 billion roubles, but also a significant part of a business empire on the African continent. According to The Wall Street Journal, Pavlo Prigozhin has successfully retained control over the group's operations in Africa and achieved annual revenue exceeding 400 million dollars.

Retaining influence despite leadership change

Following the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian authorities took the Wagner PMC under their control, creating the "African Corps" within the Russian Ministry of Defence. However, as the publication notes in its article "The playboy who inherited the world's most notorious mercenary group" ("The playboy who inherited the world's most notorious mercenary group"), the commander's son has not lost his position. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra of the Central African Republic (CAR) helped him in this. He appealed to the Kremlin not to replace Wagner mercenaries with regular Russian Ministry of Defence troops. Instead, Touadéra integrated Prigozhin's fighters into the local police, army and intelligence structures.

Revenue sources: gold, drugs and weapons

In the CAR capital, Bangui, there are approximately 500 mercenaries who perform presidential security functions, conduct combat operations against rebels, and are involved in gold mining, as well as drug and weapons trafficking. Pavlo Prigozhin, according to WSJ information, has taken control of the country's largest gold deposit, which generates 250 million dollars in annual profit.

Local authorities facilitate the export of metal abroad, labelling the extracted metal as state property. Journalists managed to establish that over the past three months, supplies have been made via Belarus. In addition to gold mining, the "young talent" controls a significant part of the local tramadol market and carries out weapons sales to rebel groups in Sudan and Libya. Wagner PMC also produces vodka and beer in the CAR.

Information influence and headquarters

The group also owns radio stations in the CAR, which broadcast anti-Western propaganda, praise President Touadéra and extol Russia. The organisation "Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime" cites figures indicating that the total annual income of the Prigozhin family exceeds 400 million dollars.

Pavlo Prigozhin resides permanently in Saint Petersburg but regularly visits Bangui. There he stays at the Ledger Plaza hotel, which investigators call the de facto headquarters of the PMC. The hotel territory is subject to enhanced security by armed fighters, and even the highest-ranking military officers undergo checks before meeting with Pavlo Prigozhin.