Vial, Michel Prigojine. L'ascension et la chute du chef de Wagne

The Wagner Group, which came to light in the course of the Syrian conflict, was an important part of Vladimir Putin's war machine for almost ten years and operated worldwide exclusively in the service of Kremlin policy.

In August 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man who founded and led the organisation, died in a plane crash, the cause of which was probably no accident. Prigozhin, a petty criminal who had been through the Soviet prison system, threw himself into business in the 1990s when the USSR fell apart. He made a fortune in the restaurant business and won the favour of Vladimir Putin to such an extent that the press referred to him as his "chef".

But his skills go even further. Little by little, he climbed the social ladder and made his way to the top of Wagner, whose men stood out for their fighting spirit, but also for their outrages in Africa and Ukraine.

This book, which traces the history of the Wagner group, also describes the extraordinary career of this man who was not a condottiere and whom circumstances turned into a warlord and finally a rebel who even challenged his employer to a coup attempt with an unexpected outcome.