Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a private jet that crashed in Russia on Wednesday, according to Russian authorities.

Here are some facts about the businessman and founder of the Wagner Group, a mercenary force that has played a key role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine but then became engaged in what Russian President Vladimir Putin described as a treasonous armed mutiny:

Ex-con turned restaurateur

After serving a long prison sentence in the 1980s, Prigozhin started out selling hotdogs in his hometown of St. Petersburg. He soon began to build up a stake in a chain of supermarkets, and eventually opened his own restaurant and catering company. His restaurant gained a reputation for its fine food and was soon hosting city dignitaries including then-deputy mayor Vladimir Putin. From there, Prigozhin's catering firm, Concord, began to win government supply contracts, taking its operations to a much bigger level.

Putin's chef

Prigozhin, 62, has for decades been known as "Putin's chef" due to his company's Kremlin catering contracts. It's unclear how friendly he and Putin are, but they know each other and both men were born and raised in St. Petersburg.

Leader of a private military force

Prigozhin admitted last September that he had founded the Wagner Group in 2014, the year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It was his first public confirmation of a link he had previously denied and sued journalists for reporting. The Wagner Group has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, among other countries. The group also provided support to Russia-backed separatists who seized a chunk of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in 2014.

Target of Western sanctions

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Prigozhin for his role in Wagner. They also accuse him of funding a troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency that Washington says tried to influence U.S. elections.

Recruiter of prisoners

With aggressive PR, foul language and a frequent presence near the front lines of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin is one of the most visible faces of the war, having recruited thousands of Russian prisoners to fight for Wagner. He has also feuded openly with the Russia's Defence Ministry over military plans and ammunition supplies.

Critic of Russian commanders

Last month, Prigozhin's forces seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after some of the war's most brutal fighting. During the onslaught, however, Prigozhin broke the taboos of Putin's tightly controlled political system with insults of Moscow's top brass. Afterwards, he issued a video thanking the Kremlin, even as he launched into his favourite rant, alleging treachery on the part of Putin's top brass, in particular Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. In a video posted on May 5, Prigozhin showed a field of dead Wagner mercenaries who he said had died due to a lack of munitions caused by Shoigu and Gerasimov.