World’s notorious killer’s house has chapel, clinic, sledge hammer
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The power game in Russia which saw a chasm between President Vladimir Putin and his hitherto loyal Private Military Company, the Wagner mercenary group, unveiled a new scene in the week when the exiled mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, briefly returned to claim items recovered from his properties in the country.
Surprisingly, images emerging from Russian government officials showed that the official mansion of the billionaire mercenary boss has a private chapel, a clinic, piano lounge and bizarre artworks that cast the character and personality of Prigozhin as complicated. Part of the paintings in the house, according to images from the Russian secret service includes paintings of chopped off heads.
There is also a massive trophy sledge hammer, the signature tool for the group’s bizarre warfront executions usually to instill loyalty in his troops.
Prigozhin and his band of mercenaries had attempted a coup to oust some top Kremlin officials, forcing President Putin to temporarily flee Moscow to a private residence. The Wagner mercenaries were angry at regular Russian military forces whom he alleged to had attacked his men while at the frontline of the war in Ukraine.
To forestall civil war in the country which is currently engaged in prolonged invasion of Ukraine, a rapid truce was brokered by the Belarusian dictator and Putin ally, Aleksander Lukashenko, who convinced Prigozhin to disembark from his vengeful coup and proceed on exile to neighboring Belarus.
As part of its internal cleansing after the brief power putsch, the Russian secret service raided the mansion of the private military boss and exposed his complicated lifestyle.
Images of the outcome of the raid dominated the social media Wednesday, showing the Prigozhin’s opulent St. Petersburg home and items seized as part of an ongoing effort to degrade the mercenary warlord’s image within Russia.
Among the items seen in Prigozhin’s mansion are gold bars, a closet full of wigs likely used for his personal disguises from his signature bald image, a trophy sledgehammer, a cache of weapons and stash of cash assembled from several locations where he held firm control.
Also pictured were a hot tub room, an ornate pool table in his office, a framed photo of severed heads, and a kitted out clinic. Within the property also sat his Robinson R44 helicopter.
But the apparent deviation from the consistent terror symbols in the Wagner boss’s residence and office is a chapel where sacramental items and accessories were still intact. Does the professional killer pray?
Last Tuesday, the Wagner boss and his security forces surfaced at the FSB’s St. Petersburg office to reclaim the weapons seized from him, the Russian Fontanka news outlet reported.
The medium had earlier reported that 10 billion rubles (about $110M) found in a Gazelle in the courtyard of the Trezzini Palace Hotel and in a minivan in the underground parking of the River House Hotel and seized from Prigozhin had already been returned to him.
According to Fontanka, two Saiga carbines, an Austrian Stey carbine, an Arka semi-automatic rifle, and several other rifles and pistols were among the items returned to Prighozin. There was also the Glock pistol Prigozhin was awarded by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Ukrainska Pravda which keeps an eye on events in Russia for the Ukrainian audience also reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in St Petersburg in person on July 4 where weapons seized during searches were returned to him.
It reported that Prigozhin was given back “RUB 10 billion [approx. US$111,313 million – ed.] which security officials had found during searches in St Petersburg following his attempted rebellion.”
The medium reported that the Russian army had lost equipment including three Mi-8 electronic-warfare helicopters, one Mi-8 transport helicopter and two attack helicopters, a Ka-52 and a Mi-35M, as well as an Il-22M command post aircraft and two armoured cars, a Kamaz and a Tiger.
It added that the Wagner Group lost two UAZs, one KAMAZ and a VPK-Ural armoured car.
The Russian service of Radio Svoboda (Liberty), citing estimates made by the Dutch project Oryx, reports that the Wagnerites shot down an Il-22M aircraft and six Russian army helicopters during the mutiny.
Putin acknowledged the death of Russian pilots during the rebellion but made no high-profile statements on the incidents.
