• thejml@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Prigozhin was born in the former Soviet Union and served ten years in prison when he was younger. After he was freed from jail, he ran a hot dog stand before becoming the owner of several fancy restaurants in Saint Petersburg. His restaurants brought Prigozhin into close contact with Putin.

    I feel like we missed a few steps on the way there, but it’s still an interesting origin story.

    • Daniel Jackson@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

      Born to a poor ethnic Georgian family in the town of Gori […], Stalin joined the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party […] and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings and protection rackets.

      Local thugs/mafia-leaders raising to power in Russia/USSR is not a new thing.