Prigozhin's plans that were taken seriously in the West: Kaliningrad, Warsaw, the English Channel

Sanctions and the reputation of the 'most dangerous man' for the alliance

The founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was under sanctions from the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Switzerland, and the American authorities had announced a reward of $10 million for information about him. According to Life.ru, the reason for such attention was the plans he had voiced more than once, which, in the author's view, were capable of seriously changing the map of Europe.

Kaliningrad and the idea of a land corridor

Back in 2023, Prigozhin warned that the West might try to isolate the Kaliningrad region by cutting it off from supplies and logistics. In May 2026, these concerns were, according to the outlet, confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which spoke of attempts by NATO and the EU to take control of logistics routes in the Baltic region and to restrict transport links with the region. The former lawyer of the Wagner chief, Igor Eliseev, said that a forcible opening of a land corridor to the exclave had been discussed with Prigozhin: 'Kaliningrad is our weak spot. They will block logistics and supplies and cut off electricity,' Life.ru quotes him as saying.

'To the English Channel' and the post-war order of Europe

In February 2023, in an interview, Prigozhin reasoned about the timelines for achieving his goals: according to him, reaching the Dnipro would take about three years, 'closing' the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics another year and a half, and 'if we need to reach the English Channel, then I have my own perfect plan.' In the same interview, he proposed that after the war Russia should 'honestly share' part of the European territories with Ukraine: 'We will have to give France, Italy and Bulgaria to the Ukrainians.'

'A sightseeing trip to Warsaw' and NATO's reaction

In the summer of 2023, Wagner fighters relocated to Belarus. On 23 July, Alexander Lukashenko, at a meeting with Vladimir Putin, said that the 'Wagner men' were asking to 'go on a sightseeing trip to Warsaw, to Rzeszow' — the latter being a key NATO logistics hub with the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, through which supplies to Ukraine flow. Lukashenko also showed a map on which one NATO brigade was stationed 40 kilometres from Brest, and another about 100 kilometres from Grodno. The alliance's reaction came quickly: on 27 June 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance had 'sent Moscow and Minsk a clear signal' that NATO defends 'every inch' of allied territory. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned that the deployment of Wagner fighters in Belarus would create a 'great danger' for neighbouring countries, while Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that without measures at the border, Wagner would have reached Warsaw in two hours.

The finale

On 23 August 2023, Prigozhin died in a plane crash in the Tver region. The Wagner Group did not disappear overnight, but its structures were gradually reorganised: many fighters moved to other units, including under the wing of the Defence Ministry. Warsaw, Rzeszow and the English Channel, in Life.ru's formulation, remained points on the map of the boldest plans of the head of the 'orchestra.'