Media: 'Putin’s chef' profits from the war in Syria by arranging an oil business
According to an agreement with the Syrian government, the Evro Polis Company connected to businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, frees up oil facilities in Syria and receives income from the sale of oil, Fontanka online reports.
According to the news portal, in December 2016, Evro Polis signed a memorandum with Syria. In five years, it must recover oil facilities from ISIS and protect them. For this, it will receive twenty-five percent of all oil and gas extracted there. In addition, the Syrian authorities will cover the costs of military operations.
As Fontanka notes, the general director of Evro Polis, Valery Chekalov is also the director of Kollektiv-Service LLC, and the contact phones numbers of this firm are identical to the phone numbers of other companies connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Fontanka also drew attention to the fact that in early 2017, the FAN news agency, linked to Prigozhin, began to talk about the special unit of the Syrian army called “ISIS Hunters.” In fact, as Fontanka notes, they are Evro Polis employees. In one of the videos, they even speak Russian.
The Ministry of Energy stated that during the visit of the Syrian minister to Russia in December, projects of Russian companies were discussed "with an emphasis on ensuring the safety of their activities there.” The Ministry of Energy said nothing about Evro Polis, citing commercial secrets.
The economic impact of the campaign cannot be accurately calculated. As explained to Fontanka by the oil and gas analyst, RusEnergy company partner Mikhail Krutikhin, without knowing exactly which deposits and facilities may fall under the agreement, it would be impossible to give a profit forecast.
"From a practical point of view, raising the possibility of organizing exports in Syria is seriously doubtful. How will the delivery be carried out? You cannot really transport it with just cars. And, without knowing the volumes of production, it is impossible to conduct a more or less accurate analysis," the expert says.
Earlier, only one company was known to participate in the fighting in Syria: Wagner’s private military company, which was not even officially registered.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is known as "Putin’s chef", because he arranged dinners for the Russian president. Now he receives state contracts for providing food for soldiers and children in schools and conducting repairs in military units among other things. He is also associated with "troll factories," organizations that are paid to promote Russian government policies and viewpoints on the Internet.