Kremlin revenge, following Wagner's rebellion, closes the Prigozhin media group in Russia

The media group, controlled by the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Pigozin, has closed in what is reported as revenge for the June 24th rebellion.

Yevgeny Zubarev, head of news site R Prigozy's IA FAN announced on the evening of July 1st that the company was closing down, without providing any reason for the decision.

RIA FAN is the most prominent media of the Prigozhin Patriot Media group, which generally maintains pro-Kremlin attitudes, offering positive reporting on Pigozin activities and attacking rivals as St. Petersburg Mayor Alexandr Beglov.

The paper, controlled by Prigozhini, Nevskiye Novosti, in St Petersburg also announced that it is interrupting publication.

The Kommersant newspaper reported on June 30th that the Russian state media overseer, Roskomnadzor, had blocked Prigozhin media sites without giving any reason for these actions.

Because we cannot continue to work on the Russian internet or to meet our obligations to our partners and advertisers, I have made the decision, in co-operation with the Patriot group board, to ban the publication since June 30th”, Nevskiye Novosti editor-in-chief Andrei Krasnobayev told Radio Free Europe.

Prigozhin and hundreds of his armed mercenaries led a brief uprising on June 24th, when they invaded the southern Russian town of Rostov-on-Don and threatened to march towards Moscow.

The crisis calmed down after Prigozyni accepted an agreement that would allow him to go into exile in Belarus and give his mercenaries the choice to join him there or to integrate into the Russian Army.

Prygozhin has not appeared publicly since the oppression of his uprising, but Belarus's leader, Alyaxander Lucashenka, has said he is in Belarus.

On the Telegram platform, Ostorozhno Novosti reported on July 1st that Russia's Defence Ministry had cancelled a contract with the hotel company Concard, of Prigozhin, which was firing hundreds of workers.

According to the contract, Concordia provided food for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, as well as for hospitals and public organizations in parts of Ukraine under Russian occupation. / REL