Catering tycoon and mercenary-group-owner Evgeny Prigozhin demands felony ‘disinformation’ charges against another pair of journalists

Evgeny Prigozhin’s battle with independent journalists continues. On Friday, his “Concord” catering company filed a complaint with Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee against Fontanka reporter Ksenia Klochkova and her editor-in-chief, Alexander Gorshkov. Prigozhin wants felony the authorities to charge the two journalists with felony “disinformation.”

Fontanka recently reported that Prigozhin was involved in recruiting a local prison inmate to fight in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Concord company says the article is disinformation about “alleged collusion between the armed forces, state agencies, and private individuals.”

As the war in Ukraine has dragged on and the Russian military has struggled to field enough soldiers, Prigozhin’s private military company, Wagner, has reportedly started recruiting among Russia’s prison population. According to the independent news outlet Verstka Media and the Russia Behind Bars human rights group, Wagner recruiters (sometimes even Prigozhin himself) have visited at least 21 prisons this summer.

In mid-July, Evgeny Prigozhin responded to a Meduza investigative report about Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine by demanding felony charges against Meduza correspondent Liliya Yapparova and editorial director Tatiana Ershova. Prigozhin has also asked the Russian authorities to outlaw Meduza as an “undesirable organization.”