Khodorkovsky's investigative journalists say advisers hired by ‘Putin's chef’ spent a year trying to save Sudan's longtime dictator

According to data from Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s investigative news project Dossier Center, as reported by the former oligarch’s website MBKh Media and the American TV network CNN, businesses linked to the Russian catering tycoon Evgeny Prigozhin spent the past year trying to save Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Sudan.

Prigozhin’s companies allegedly advised Sudanese officials on how to fight anti-government protests, proposing countermeasures that included “preventative arrests” of opposition leaders, news media censorship, and greater limits on the freedom of assembly. MBKh Media says Prigozhin’s political consultants also suggested purging and publicly punishing any “traitors,” and publicly executing rioters and others responsible for provoking civil unrest.

Over the past year, journalists in Russia and around the world have written repeatedly about Evgeny Prigozhin’s supposed business interests in Africa, including Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic.

Omar al-Bashir was ousted from the presidency by the Sudanese Armed Forces on April 11, 2019, following several months of protests and popular unrest. Four days after the coup, Moscow recognized the Sudanese Army lieutenant general now serving as Sudan’s de facto head of state.