Prigozhin blames St. Petersburg Governor Beglov for ‘irrecoverable losses of cultural heritage,’ instigates negligence case

Evgeny Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary Wagner Group, has returned to his rivalry with the St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, head of the St. Petersburg municipality.

In a letter to the state prosecutor Alexander Bastrykin, Prigozhin urges a criminal investigation of Beglov’s negligence with respect to the culturally significant monuments of St. Petersburg.

Under the Russian criminal law, destroying or damaging objects of cultural importance is punishable by up to six years in prison.

Prigozhin’s letter says that over 850 state-protected monuments in St. Petersburg are currently abandoned, neglected, and left to decay. Prigozhin blames Beglov for this state of affairs, writing that the governor’s inaction is resulting in “irrecoverable losses of cultural heritage objects and violations of applicable law.”

As an example of Beglov’s negligence, Prigozhin points out the obstacles he himself has encountered when converting an 18th-century building designed by the Italian architect Domenico Trezzini into a five-star hotel.