A plane crashed north of Moscow. According to Russian authorities, Wagner boss Prigozhin was on board.
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to have died in a plane crash in Russia two months after his mysterious mutiny. His name is on the passenger list, the aviation authority Rosawiazija announced on Wednesday.
The Embraer Legacy aircraft was to fly from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where Prigozhin’s companies are based. It crashed in the Tver region near the town of Kushenkino, more than 200 kilometers from the capital. Be on board the machine “ten people” including three crew members, according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in the online service Telegram. A total of seven passengers, including Wagner commander Dmitri Utkin, and three crew members were on the list published by the aviation authority on Wednesday.
“According to initial information, everyone on board died”, it said. Searches are currently being carried out. According to a head of the rescue services quoted by the Ria Nowosti news agency, eight bodies were initially found at the crash site by the evening.
Videos were distributed on several Telegram channels allegedly connected to the Wagner Group, the authenticity of which the AFP news agency was initially unable to verify. They showed burning debris in a field or an airplane falling from the sky.
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Prigozhin plane crash – what we know and what we don’t
Kremlin boss Putin initially did not comment on the plane crash. He was at the time on a visit to south-west Russia on the border with Ukraine to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk during World War II. Without mentioning the crash, Putin praised the Russian soldiers in Ukraine on a stage “with courage and determination” fought.
Prigozhin-Medium reports about shooting down
After the crash, Prigozhin’s internet media circulated the version of a targeted shoot-down. The machine was shot down by anti-aircraft guns over the Tver region, it said. Priogoshin usually used it to distribute his videos. The claim of a shooting was not verifiable.
Gray Zone wrote that there were two planes from Wagner’s private army in the air. The second turned around on the flight to St. Petersburg and landed at Ostafyevo Airport south of Moscow. Gray Zone questioned the authorities’ version that Prigozhin was on the passenger list of the first plane and was killed. “Where Yevgeny Prigozhin was in the end, there is no exact information at the moment”it was said.
US President Biden “not surprised”
US President Joe Biden has “not surprised” of the possible death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in Russia. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m not surprised”, Biden said Wednesday in the city of South Lake Tahoe, California, where he is currently staying with his family. Biden added that he recently said that the Russian mercenary boss had to “cautious” be.
When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the plane crash, Biden said: “Not much happens in Russia that Putin doesn’t stand behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian presidential adviser Michailo Podoljak said in online networks that the plane crash was “a signal from Putin to the Russian elites” before the 2024 presidential election. It means “Caution! Disloyalty means death”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and the putsch of the Wagner troupe
Prigozhin, 62, had mutinied against the Russian leadership with his Wagner private army exactly two months ago to the day, although the background to these events is still unclear to this day. Prigozhin had long been considered a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, who later called him a traitor.
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During the brief uprising against Russian General Staff and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu amid the Ukraine conflict, Prigozhin’s mercenaries occupied military installations in southern Russia on June 23 and then marched towards Moscow. The Wagner group had by then played a major role in the Russian offensive in Ukraine. The mutiny ended in allowing Prigozhin and thousands of his gunmen to go to Belarus.
Mercenary force with unofficial operations in Africa
The group of mercenaries he had built up first carried out unofficial special assignments for Russia in Syria and later also in several African countries. In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Prigozhin recruited prisoners from Russian prisons. The force suffered heavy losses in the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Priogoshin accused the regular military leadership of incompetence and corruption.
Priogshin himself was in prison and later made a career as purveyor to the Kremlin, hence his nickname “Putin’s cook”. He is also said to have been the businessman behind the troll factories in St. Petersburg, which tried to influence western countries via social media.
Note: This text is continuously updated.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
