Prigozhin's media empire ends: Patriot holding dissolved
The companies that were part of Yevgeny Prigozhin's media holding outlived their founder by more than a year; however, they are now being liquidated. Information about the end of their operations appeared this week on the Telegram channel of the press office of the founder of the so-called Wagner Group.
Oct 18, 2024 | updated: 12:47 PM EDT, October 18, 2024
Patriot Holding was established in 2019, with Prigozhin serving as the chairman of the supervisory board. The consortium included the Federal News Agency (FAN), Newskiye Novosti, and organizations such as Politika Sevodnya and Ekonomia Sevodnya. Altogether, the group comprised 600 different media organizations.
History of the Internet Research Agency (IRA)
Some of these companies, primarily FAN and Newskiye Novosti, were previously part of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which has operated in St. Petersburg since 2013. Commonly referred to as a "troll farm," the IRA gained wider recognition three years after its inception.
The main task of the agency was to spread Russian propaganda and disinformation on the internet, particularly on social media. In 2017, U.S. authorities accused Prigozhin and his troll farm of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and imposed sanctions on him.
Prigozhin denied any connections to the troll farm for many years. It was only in 2023, on Telegram, that he admitted to being its creator and leader for many years.
"It was founded to protect the Russian information space from boorish aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian narrative from the West," CNN quoted him.
Activities of the Wagner Group
Prigozhin also founded a private military company known as the "Wagner Group," which was active during Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and later in Syria, Africa, and, since 2022, in Ukraine. In June 2023, Prigozhin initiated a "march on Moscow," demanding the dismissal of then-Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. Ultimately, he retreated, and on August 23, 2023, he died in a plane crash.
The closure of Patriot Holding was a result of the Wagner Group rebellion. The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) attempted to revoke all company licenses within the holding. Still, the court rejected the request on formal grounds. In 2024, Prigozhin's troll farms continued to spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine, as reported by the American newspaper "The Wall Street Journal" in March 2024.
Final Decision on Liquidation
On October 15, 2024, the Telegram channel "Prigozhin's Cap" announced that "the company's management decided to liquidate the companies previously part of the Patriot media group." It was also noted: "it's time to move on."
"It was a fascinating project that grew from nothing into the best Russian media holding. Many specialists who now hold significant positions in both business and public service went through Patriot's school," it was written.
According to information from St. Petersburg portals Rotunda and Fontanka, Ilya Gorbunov, associated with Prigozhin, proposed to his heir, Pavel Prigozhin, to restore the holding's operations but was met with refusal. Radio Free Europe reported that in June 2024, Gorbunov and Kirill Metelev, editor-in-chief of the portal Concretely.ru, were detained in connection with extorting 4 million rubles ($42,000) from Alexander Malkiewich, a former general director of the St. Petersburg television channel linked to Prigozhin and currently a member of the city parliament.
