How did the Wagner Group leader come to be in conflict with the Russian state?
Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenary group saw profile grow during war, along with list of grievances
Amid dramatic developments in Russia in the past day, many observers will be wondering: How did it come to this?
At the start of Saturday, the Russian government was trying to quell an armed rebellion involving Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private militia — in what appeared to be the biggest-ever threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin's leadership.
Prigozhin's men had crossed from Ukraine into Russia and entered Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia, near the border with Ukraine. The Wagner leader claimed his forces had military facilities in the city under their control, including the airfield.
Some Wagner troops drove on further toward Moscow — reportedly reaching Russia's Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometres south of Moscow.
Putin, meanwhile, vowed to defend the country and harshly punish the rebellion's organizers.
But later Saturday, those troops turned back, following a deal to de-escalate the situation, which Prigozhin said would avoid bloodshed.
The charges against Prigozhin for mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped and the troops who joined him also will not be prosecuted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced, and fighters from his Wagner Group who did not take part in the uprising will be offered contracts by the Russian defence ministry.
Here's a brief look at how Prigozhin went from being a prominent leader of a mercenary force to the man at the centre of a major fight with Putin and the Russian state.
Ukraine invaded
Russia launched its wide-ranging invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. That marked the start of Europe's largest land war since the end of the Second World War.
Prigozhin's private army, known as the Wagner Group, has fought alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine. And its public profile has grown, just like it has for its founder.
"Because of this war, and because of the ambitions of Prigozhin, quite quickly the group emerged as the most visible part of the Russian military," journalist Andrei Soldatov told PBS NewsHour last month.
"Now we have billboards advertising Wagner on the streets of Russian cities — a completely unprecedented thing."
Ties revealed
Last September, Prigozhin publicly acknowledged in a statement that he founded the Wagner Group, after he previously denied having any ties to it.
Prigozhin said the group was formed in 2014 to "defend the Russians" involved in fighting in eastern Ukraine — that would be the Russian-backed separatists — at that time.
While media reports had long linked Prigozhin to Wagner, videos surfaced showing him visiting prisons in Russia to recruit fighters for the war in Ukraine.
A few months later, Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, said Prigozhin had recruited dozens of prisoners for the Ukraine war from the penal colony where Navalny himself was being held.
Increasingly vocal criticisms
Prigozhin became an increasingly vocal critic of many aspects of Russia's war effort and the people leading it.
These have included pointed complaints about a lack of supplies and equipment for Wagner fighters, as well as direct public criticism of Russian military leaders.
Just weeks ago, Prigozhin had threatened to pull his troops from a long-running battle in Bakhmut, citing heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He called for regular Russian troops to replace his own.
Also last month, Prigozhin suggested Putin's goal of "demilitarizing" Ukraine had failed, as Kyiv's forces strengthened with the backing of Western equipment and training.
Most recently, Prigozhin, when announcing the rebellion, alleged Russian forces had hit Wagner camps with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery, claiming that "a huge number of our comrades got killed." Russia's Defence Ministry denied attacking the camps.
Bakhmut battle
Some of the bloodiest fighting of the war has occurred in the Bakhmut battle, where Wagner fighters have been on the front lines.
For months, Ukrainian and Russian forces suffered losses, in gruelling fighting that both sides described as a "meat-grinder."
Prigozhin said more than 20,000 of his troops died in the battle for Bakhmut — with Russia claiming victory there last month. Half the Wagner fighters killed there had been recruited from Russian prisons.
At that time, Prigozhin said Wagner would hand control of the city to Russian forces.
Armed rebellion
Prigozhin declared the armed rebellion late Friday, which set in motion a set of responses from Moscow.
Putin denounced the uprising as "a stab in the back" in an address to the nation.
The Russian leader called the actions by Prigozhin, whom he did not mention by name, a "betrayal" and "treason."
"All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment," Putin said. "The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders."
Prigozhin said his fighters would not surrender, as "we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy."
Yet as early reports of the rebellion emerged, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Friday that Prigozhin's push to oust Russian defence leaders seemed "unlikely to succeed."
Then came the de-escalation deal, which the Kremlin claims will involve the 62-year-old Prigozhin moving to Belarus. He will not face prosecution, according to Moscow.
With files from The Associated Press and Reuters