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In recent months, Wagner Group paramilitary cartel founder Evgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly made statements that nobody else in Russia would be able to get away with. As the independent outlet iStories recently noted, Prigozhin frequently refers to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a war, rather than the Russian government’s preferred (and legally-mandated) term, “special military operation”; he regularly insults the country’s military leaders publicly; and he’s openly acknowledged that the war against Ukraine has failed miserably to bring the changes Vladimir Putin intended. What’s more, he’s spoken positively about jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny and his ability to expose corruption in the Russian government, and he’s raised the prospect of the Russian people lifting the country’s elites on pitchforks. Any one of these comments would have been enough to land anybody else in court, if not behind bars, but Prigozhin is currently touring around the country giving press conferences. To better understand why the firebrand tycoon is allowed so much leeway, journalists from iStories spoke to former Russian intelligence officers, a person close to the Russian Defense Ministry, and a business owner close to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Meduza is publishing translations of their explanations.