‘Putin's chef’ no longer owns catering company that was the largest business officially held in his name

St. Petersburg businessman Evgeny Prigozhin is known for many things, from his reported control of a troll factory in the city to his alleged ties with the Wagner private military company (PMC). However, the largest enterprise Prigozhin officially owned was Concord. The restaurant and catering enterprise is recognized in the Russian public sphere as a frequent winner of government contracts and the subject of a recent dysentery scandal in Moscow schools. As of November 11, however, Russia’s federal registry of corporations and organizations lists a company called The Development Corporation, not Prigozhin, as the singular owner of Concord. RBC first reported on the change, while Current Time claimed that Concord’s ownership had actually been split between The Development Corporation and Prigozhin.

The federal registry notes that the company’s ownership change actually took place on October 30. It was accompanied by the appointment of a new CEO, Eduard Kozmin, whom Interfax describes as the former director of a meat production facility.

The Development Corporation, Concord’s new owner, is itself owned by 27-year-old Yekaterina Roslikova, who reportedly works as an attorney for a construction firm called Megaline. A company with that name has previously been said to have ties with Prigozhin and with the construction of a military base for mercenaries in Russia’s Krasnodar region.

Concord’s account on the social media network VKontakte posted an announcement saying that the structure of the company had been changed after the firm successfully repaid a major loan. The company declined to reveal the reasons for its leadership change, calling them a trade secret.