Putin Is No Longer the Most Popular Person in Russia—Internet Searches Show

Russian President Vladimir Putin is no longer the most popular person in Russia, with citizens searching for information about his ally—Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin—twice as often in the month of May.

Last month, as a public feud between Prigozhin and Russia's ministry of defense intensified, Russians searched for information about the man nicknamed "Putin's chef" far more than the leader of the country, independent Russian news outlet Verstka found.

Prigozhin, who earned his nickname thanks to his catering contracts with the Kremlin, poured his Wagner fighters for months into the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. He was viewed by the Kremlin as a key instrument in the war, but cracks began to show in the businessman's relationship with the government when he displayed an appetite in the political sphere, launching attacks on Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

On May 5, a furious Prigozhin directly addressed Putin in his appeal for more munitions, hours after publishing an expletive-ridden clip standing in front of rows of what he claimed were his fighters killed in battle in Bakhmut. He had previously aimed his attacks only at Shoigu and Gerasimov, blaming them and their failure to provide more ammunition for the deaths of his fighters.

Days later, on the May 9 Victory Day—Moscow's annual celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II—Prigozhin again complained about a lack of ammunition, publishing videos shortly before and immediately after Putin's speech in Moscow's Red Square. Prigozhin suggested that his fighters still lack ammunition and that the Wagner Group isn't allowed to retreat, and threatened with state treason for desertion.

He withdrew from Bakhmut on May 25, accusing Russia's military leadership of intentionally depriving his fighters of ammunition and support in the war. More recently, Prigozhin rejected an order from Shoigu and Putin that his paramilitary outfit sign contracts with the Russian Federation by July 1.

According to a Google Trends search conducted by Verstka, Russians began searching more for Prigozhin in early May, with interest in the Russian tycoon peaking by the end of the month. From May 28 to June 3, the Wagner chief's popularity was at the level of 100 points (the highest indicator), while Putin's popularity reached only 28 points.

Data from Yandex Wordstat showed that Russians searched for "Putin's chef" 744,000 times in May (the previous record was 498,000 in January), while searches for "Vladimir Putin" totaled 305,000—2.4 times less than for the search "Yevgeny Prigozhin," the news outlet found.

Commenting on the findings, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, tweeted: "Prigozhin's conflict with the Russian defense ministry led to his growing popularity that now exceeds the popularity of Putin."

"In May Russians looked for information about Prigozhin online twice as often as they searched for news about Putin."

Gerashchenko added: "I think that at this rate, some accident might happen to Prigozhin."

Vlad Mykhnenko, an expert in the post-communist transformation of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union at the U.K.'s University of Oxford, told Newsweek in May he believes Prigozhin has "overstretched himself" and that his "physical life will be abruptly and involuntarily ended soon enough."

"My money is on Prigozhin being found dead in a Russian state-staged 'suicide,' with a pistol in his hand and a ridiculous suicide note," he said. "Moscow could also provide Ukraine with Prigozhin's precise geo-location within a 70km HIMARS rocket range to finish him off and provide a 'heroic' propaganda recruiting boost to the 'new' emasculated Wagner."

Mykhnenko added: "The only other realistic option would be to allow Prigozhin to return to Russia, before being blown up in a car bomb like [Daria] Dugina and [Zakhar] Prilepin."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment via email.

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