2023-08-23 19:52:30
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, died in a plane crash during a flight that covered Moscow with Saint Petersburg (Europa Press)
“A private Embraer Legacy plane traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region. There were 10 people on board, including 3 crew members. According to preliminary information, everyone on board died,” the emergency situation ministry said on Telegram.
The Russian emergency services have so far rescued eight bodies at the scene of the incident.
Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, the TASS news agency reported, citing Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation authority. “An investigation has been launched into the Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the list of passengers, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Rosaviatsia said.
“The Federal Air Transport Agency Commission is initiating initial actions at the accident site, and has also begun to collect factual materials on the training of the crew, the technical condition of the aircraft, the weather situation on the route of flight, the work of dispatch services and radio equipment on the ground,” added the statement from the Russian state aviation authority.
Prigozhin had reappeared in a video this Tuesday, when he was seen in Africa where he asked to recruit mercenaries to face different tasks on that continent. The head of the Wagner Group, a private military corporation in the employ of the Kremlin, had confronted Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over how the invasion of Ukraine, of which he was a part, was unfolding. Since then, his whereregardings had been a constant source of speculation.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Plane Crash
TASS had previously reported that ten people had died following a private plane crashed in Russia’s Tver region north of Moscow. The jet, en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg, was carrying seven passengers and three crew members.
According to different reports, the plane in which the mercenary leader was transporting might have been shot down by the Russian Air Force. A Wagner-linked Telegram channel, Gray Zone, reported that the plane was shot down by air defenses in the Tver region north of Moscow.
Other reports indicate that the device was the victim of a bomb attack or that it was shot down by an enemy assault drone.
In the video published by the digital newspaper Gazeta.ru, you can see how the plane crashes to the ground not far from some rural houses, following which a strong explosion occurs.
Prigozhin participated in a military uprising that reached the gates of Moscow, which began on June 22 and ended the following day. Then Putin called him a “traitor” and said that a trial would be initiated once morest him. Wagner’s boss, also known as “the Kremlin chef,” reached a ceasefire agreement and holed up in Belarus along with thousands of his paid soldiers.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane crash
From Prigozhin’s own account they also reported that “media reports that Dmitry Utkin, one of the founders of the PMC “Wagner”, was also traveling on the crashed plane” although they clarify that “there is no official confirmation”.
In the midst of the lack of information regarding the accident of the plane in which the head of the Wagner Group was traveling, a Telegram channel of the mercenary organization assured that Russia was behind the incident. “Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland, died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia. But even in hell it will be the best! Glory to Russia!”, communicated a message on the Telegram channel Gray Zone, belonging to the Russian mercenary group, which cited information from journalist Alexey Larkin.
At the time of the accident, President Putin was participating in an official ceremony in the Kursk border region on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, one of the most important of World War II between the Soviet and Nazi armies.
For its part, the White House reported that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, was already informed of the plane crash in Russia. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said “no one should be surprised” if reports that Prigozhin was aboard the crashed plane are confirmed: “We have seen the reports. If they are confirmed, no one should be surprised. The disastrous war in the Ukraine led a private army to march on Moscow, and now – it seems – this.
For years Yevgeny Prigozhin was known as “Putin’s chef” (DEF File)
Correct forecast?
Just nine days ago, an expert on the internal intrigues of the Kremlin predicted what might be the fate of Prigozhin. Christo Grozev has built a reputation for himself in the complex world of Russian investigative journalism. In a country where the boundaries of politics and truth seem always to be in flux, Grozev has shown an unrivaled ability to unravel its deepest mysteries, saying the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries was destined to be killed or lead a new mutiny once morest Moscow.
In an interview given to the Financial Times, Grozev reviewed what it meant to do journalism in Russia, but also regarding the rise of the mercenary boss. Why wasn’t Putin tougher once morest Prigozhin? was the question asked on August 14. “Putin went on television and called Prigozhin a traitor. Everyone knows what is done with ‘traitors’ and Putin has not done it. He wants to see him dead. He still can’t do it. In six months Prigozhin will be dead or there will be a second coup,” Grozev said at the time.
Along these lines, senior Biden administration officials have also publicly warned that Wagner’s boss might be assassinated by the Kremlin following leading an armed rebellion. “If I were him, I would be careful what I eat. I would watch my menu,” Biden declared in July.
CIA Director Bill Burns noted that Putin has a long history of revenge: “In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of revenge. So I’d be surprised if Prigozhin was spared any more reprisals for this. In that sense, the president is right. If I were Prigozhin, he would not fire my food taster.
“If I were Prigozhin, I would still be very worried. NATO has an open door policy; Russia has an open window policy,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in July.
Keep reading:
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group who came to put his partner Vladimir Putin in check The forecast of an expert in the intrigues of the Kremlin: Prigozhin will be assassinated or he will provoke a new uprising A medium of the Wagner Group confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and threatened to retaliation
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