He's known as "Putin's chef" - a wealthy Russian businessman and restaurateur who gained favour with Vladimir Putin through his stomach.

On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin - along with 12 other Russians and three Russian organisations - was charged by the US government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 US presidential election.

According to the indictment, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St Petersburg-based troll farm that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to try to influence the White House race.

A one-time hot dog stand owner, Prigozhin opened one of the swankiest restaurants in St Petersburg and drew interest from Putin. During his first term in office, Putin took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of Prigozhin's restaurants.

"Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk, he saw that I don't mind serving to the esteemed guests because they were my guests," Prigozhin recalled in an interview published on the 812 Online website in 2011.