Rather discreet, the 53-year-old Russian businesswoman is nevertheless a major support for Evgueni Prigojine, the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner.
Her husband made his fortune thanks to a fast-food chain after having been Vladimir Putin’s cook. On June 24, however, he attempted a military coup against the man who took him under his wing, before turning around and abandoning his plans for the “liberation of the Russian people”. While her husband is condemned to exile in Belarus, what about his discreet wife?
She and Yevgueni Prigojine have been married for more than twenty years and she is one of his most loyal supporters. They met on the benches of the university, in the 1990s. Lyubov Prigozhina thus fell in love with this former prisoner, who will become close to Vladimir Putin over time.
It was after ten years spent in prison that Evgueni Prigojine undertook studies in chemistry and pharmacy, which were not conclusive. It would be during this period that he met his future wife, nine years his junior. The couple will have three children, two girls and a boy, Polina, Veronica and Pavel, born in 1992, 2005 and 1998 respectively.
A seasoned businesswoman
But the fiftieth is not content to be the wife of a powerful man. She herself is the head of several wellness centers and a chain of chocolate shops in St. Petersburg. She would also contribute to many companies owned by her husband. His children would also play an important role in the business enterprise of the boss of Wagner, according to the Financial Times.
Western countries imposed financial sanctions on Lyubov Prigozhina at the start of the war in Ukraine, because of the advantages that her husband derived from public contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense during the annexation of Crimea. by Russia and the occupation of eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. Discreet, the fact remains that she plays an important role in her husband’s affairs.
