A number of news items on how Yevgeny Prigozhin's fortunes continue to wane. From RTÉ we learn that:
Yevgeny Prigozhin's media holding group is to shut down, the director of one of its outlets said, highlighting the mercenary chief's worsening fortunes a week after the collapse of a brief mutiny staged by his Wagner Group fighters.
...
Patriot Media, whose most prominent outlet was the RIA FAN news site, had taken a strongly nationalist, pro-Kremlin editorial line, while also providing positive coverage of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group.
"I am announcing our decision to close down and to leave the country's information space," RIA FAN director Yevgeny Zubarev said in a video clip posted late yesterday on the holding's social media accounts.
Zubarev gave no reason for the decision.
It's a mystery, isn't it?
And not just his media outlet. The Guardian reports that:
For nearly a decade, Prigozhin has sown scandal in Russia, creating a troll factory empire, leading Russia's interference into foreign elections and bankrolling the Wagner mercenary group that fought in Ukraine and has propped up dictators in Africa.
In last weekend's mutiny, he also called for upheaval, leading an armed rebellion that many fear could turn to score-settling or even looting in Moscow, including the upmarket homes of Moscow's wealthy Rublyovka district.
But:
"This call to go get those thieves in Rublyovka was revolutionary," said Konstantin Remchukov, editor-in-chief of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, who saw Vladimir Putin last week at a closed-door meeting for top editors. "[The elite] truly fear Prigozhin as a possible alternative to Putin. There would be no guarantees, no protection, no rules to the game."
Instead, it is Prigozhin's empire that will now crumble, ending a decade of his schemes and tricks doing some of the Kremlin's dirtiest work.
The pushback is quite something:
On Friday, Russia blocked the websites of the Ria Fan, Politics Today, Economy Today, Neva News and People's News online media outlets, part of a constellation of online sites that pushed out fake news in support of Prigozhin's agenda.
And:
Long seen as plausibly deniable, he will now be simply ignored as the Russian government seeks to maintain his overseas mercenary empire and its influence in Africa while eliminating Prigozhin's personal role.
"Until the war and Bakhmut, we would rarely write about Prigozhin – he was seen as an unclear character, not anti-government but best not to touch," said a former editor at a Russian state news agency, citing contacts with colleagues. "Now it is as though he never existed."
"[Editors] are saying: 'Right, we've addressed [the mutiny] but now we are going to get back to normal, and Prigozhin will never be discussed, definitely not on TV.'"
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