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PROEKT

Proekt is an independent Russian-language outlet specializing in investigative journalism, launched in 2018.
A fake passport belonging to Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Andrey Zakharov

"Putin's Sadist" — New Findings In Prigozhin Villa Include Photo Of Decapitated Africans

After the Wagner mutiny, the palatial home of the mercenary group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was searched in St. Petersburg. Among other chilling finds was a framed photograph of the severed heads of slain Africans. It fits in with the profile of a man Proekt media calls “Putin’s Sadist.”

MOSCOW — On October 18, 2011, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who had recently announced his intention to return to the presidency, was walking through the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg. On his way, he crossed paths with a bald man. “Great hairstyle,” Putin quipped with a smile, shook the man’s hand, and continued on to meetings with the heads of government of former USSR states who had gathered in the northern Russian city.

The bald man was Yevgeny Prigozhin, the future founder of the Wagner mercenary company; an interlocutor that would prove to play an important role in Russia's interference in the U.S. elections, in the military interventions in Syria and Libya, and most recently in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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But Prigozhin's privileged status with Putin would not last indefinitely. After Prigozhin led a mutiny against the highest echelons of Russia’s military command in late June, the sworn alliance was apparently over. In the meantime, news has since leaked that Putin met with Prigozhin and other Wagner members after the failed insurrection, adding uncertainty to the future of the group and its leader.

Still, in recent days we have been learning more and more about Prigozhin’s past. Following the insurrection, Russian police raided his house in his native Saint Petersburg, where stashes of cash, weapons and other items were found.

Most notably, officials say they found a framed photograph showing severed heads. At first, it was unclear from the censored photo who the victims were.

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Photo of ​Russian President Vladimir Putin facing journalists during a press conference
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Proekt

"Kremlin Insiders Say..." How Even Independent Media Spread Russian Misinformation

Moscow has a tight grip on Russia's media. But instead of trying to fully control the few remaining independent media outlets, it learned how to manipulate them for its own purposes.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, even as it struggles on the battlefield, Russia has made significant progress on how to win on the information frontline inside the country.

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Exiled Russian-language media outlet Proekt reports that Russians and people around the world have lost their last hope at actually understanding the Kremlin's actions.

That's because Russian leaders have learned how to play the few remaining independent Russian media outlets with Kremlin-spun “insights”. These are then used by the foreign media and key decision-makers at home and abroad.

One of these outlets is Meduza, an influential Russian- and English-language news website based in Riga, Latvia.

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Who Is Putin? The Long And Subtle Manipulation Of A Public Biography
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War
Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin

Who Is Putin? The Long And Subtle Manipulation Of A Public Biography

Even Russians are unlikely to have noticed that over the 23 years of Vladimir Putin's presidency, the biography the Kremlin presents of him has been repeatedly altered. Having recently celebrated his 70th birthday, Proekt reveals details of how the authorities have hidden facts and evidence about Putin's life and his relationship with his family and friends — and the Russian people.

In January and February 2000, Russia was one of the main topics at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Specifically, the change of power in Moscow, where former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, heralded as Boris Yeltsin’s successor, was preparing for his first presidential election.

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"Who is Mr. Putin?" the American journalist Trudy Rubin asked the Russian delegation. Anatoly Chubais and Sergei Kiriyenko, leaders of the now-defunct, center-right SPS party, looked at each other but couldn't answer. Neither could then-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. The audience laughed, but the situation was difficult. The country of 146 million people had been entrusted to a man whom few people knew, either in Russia or abroad.

Just weeks later, Trudy Rubin would get an answer to her question, with the publication of First Person, a compilation of more than 24 hours worth of interviews with Putin by Natalia Gevorkian, a journalist at Kommersant. The book—solicited by Valentin Yumashev, Boris Yeltsin’s Chief of Staff—came out just in time for the Russian presidential election.

The book was partly personal, with fragments about Putin’s daughters and quotes from his wife Lyudmila Putina. In it, she recalls seeing her future husband for the first time. "Volodya (Putin) was standing on the steps of this cash register. He was very modestly dressed; I would even say poor. He was very plain, and I would not have noticed him on the street,” describes Putina.

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