Putin's enemy and Wagner Group warlord Prigozhin feared dead in plane crash
Yevgeny Prigozhin - the director of Putin's former shadow army Wagner PMC - is feared dead after his light aircraft crashed in Russia today.
The plane was seen in a video falling out of the sky in the Bologovsky district in the Tver region. The burning wreckage was seen in a field. It was initially unknown if Wagner chief Prigozhin - known as Putin’s chef with longstanding links to the Kremlin dictator - was on board. He made headlines in June after he famously led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces, angering Putin.
A report from Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsiya said Prigozhin was named on the passenger list The Wagner-linked Grey Zone Telegram channel added that the downing of the private plane, which was owned by the 62-year-old former convict, was shot down "as a result of actions of traitors of Russia".
It's understood that 10 people, seven passengers and three flight crew, were on-board the flight bound to St Petersburg from Moscow. Just before 7pm GMT, it was reported that eight bodies had been recovered from the crash site, but later reports said all 10 had been retrieved. The corpses were described as badly charred. One was missing a head while another had a “shattered face”, said Baza media.
Yevgeny Prihozhin, the leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group (TELEGRAM / @ razgruzka_vagnera/A)Prigozhin, 62, had recently been warned that he could become an asassination target after leading a failed coup against the regime two months ago. A channel linked to Wagner said the plane had been shot down by air defences, which could not be independently verified. Sources close to the Wagner warlord - who is widely known to take extra care in relation to his security - said that while the aircraft belonged to him, he usually flew on another aircraft. Earlier this week a video apparently showed him in Africa vowing to make Russia great by deploying his Wagner troops on the continent.
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Prigozhin was mentioned on the passenger list (Social media/e2w)Russian media has been awash with theories and partial reports about the circumstances around the plane crash. Earlier tonight, former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak - who is known as the tyran'ts "goddaughter" - said: “My sources report that an Embraer plane belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin has now crashed in the Tver region. This happened 15 kilometres from Khotilovo. According to our information, there were three crew members and seven passengers. Whether Prigozhin himself was on board is unknown.”
A local woman said parts of the plane fell off as it plunged from the sky (Social media/e2w)Meanwhile, a number of eyewitnesses provided clues to what happened in the sky. One local woman said she saw parts of the plane tumble to the ground as it plunged from the sky. Another female eyewitness saw two explosions ring out before the crash. A woman on the ground said: “There were two explosions, and now it is falling. Look, it's falling.”
The plane is seen falling from the sky (Twitter)Sources and media outlets aligned to Prigozhin have warned that he could have been on another plane entirely after another aircraft he owned was seen turning around over Moscow and zigzagging through the sky. "According to the data of the Flightradar service, the plane zigzags over Moscow and behaves unnaturally – with the feeling it does not know where to fly,” reported Readovka. "The second plane also took off from the Moscow region.” Readovka is a media outlet linked to Prigozhin.
News agency Readovka - linked to Prigozhin - said it was “premature” to say he had died. Prigozhin, who was terrified of assassination, is said to have regularly “confused everyone” by changing his travel plans at the last minute. While checking in for one flight, he routinely flew on another.
Thick plumes of smoke billow into the sky (Social media/e2w)The wreck site showed a plane so damaged it would've been impossible to survive, according to reports. One source described the scenes: "“The infrastructure [of the plane] was not damaged, the tail fell off in one settlement, everything else in another. The wing also fell off, we don’t know yet what and where. Three people, the pilots, are torn to pieces, to pieces. The rest are in the tail section. Four bodies were picked open, and then it is still not clear. The plane burned out completely. Only the front part, windows and a piece of hardware remained, and a piece of the engine is lying on one wing. Everything else burned out. There is no other wing with an engine.”
Anna Mongayt, independent TV Rain host, said: “Exactly two months have passed since the day of the rebellion and Prigogzhin is killed.: Putin “prefers to serve revenge cold”. She said: “The scale of his personal humiliation and the humiliation of his unfortunate generals was so great that nothing can be ruled out. I am trying to remember the names of all the political scientists who promised me that soon Putin would be served the corpse of his cook [Prigozhin].
Prigozhin was named on the passenger list, but he is known to have been ultra-concerned about security and often took different flights to those he checked in for (Twitter)
However, some sources close to Prigozhin have even lamented his death (Twitter)Prominent journalist Alexei Venediktov said that Prigozhin may have changed planes before departure. But Fontanka news outlet sources said that Prigozhin’s close entourage have been unable to reach him. Shortly after 7pm, it was confirmed that a second plane linked to the warlord had landed in Moscow.
Prigozhin's right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, military commander of Wagner in Ukraine and Africa, was on board the stricken plane, reports say. “Wagner is beheaded,” said a pro-war Telegram channel.
Wagner Company mercenaries ahead of the failed mutiny in Rostov-on-Don (AFP via Getty Images)But another source said: “Don’t rush to bury him.” There were even claims that the Wagner boss’s death could have been “staged”. He had been declared dead in 2019 in Africa - yet lived to fight another day.
MP Yevgeny Popov: "This is a terrorist act in the Russian sky. It must be investigated. The perpetrators must answer." Prigozhin had been warned not to go into high buildings for fear of accidents after leading a coup aimed at ousting especially defence minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief Gen Valery Gerasimov. He is known to have used body doubles as part of his elaborate security measures..
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He formerly oversaw lavish Kremlin banquets before branching out to run propaganda troll farms backing the dictator - and mustering a giant private mercenary army.
A piece of the plane in Tver (112/e2w)
Prigozhin fell out of Putin's favour after the mutiny, and was warned that he would likely be a target of assassination (AP)TV propagandist Margarita Simonyan, head of the pro-Putin RT media empire, said: “Among the versions under discussion is a staging. But personally I'm leaning towards the more obvious one.”
A “high ranking” source told Brief media that Prigozhin “most likely died”. At the time of the crash, a smirking Putin - who rarely travels to the Russian regions - was in Kursk, close to Ukraine, marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk in WW2. He stood in front of an orchestra on his unannounced trip.
At the event, Putin gave awards to the military, including the top honour - Hero of Russia. There were also claims that this was not Putin - but a doppelgänger. VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reported: “It seems that the explosion on Prigozhin’s plane will be attributed to a terrorist attack.” A source said: “I was working and heard three claps [explosions]. Part of the plane fell down.”
Putin was at a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Locals reported “sounds of an explosion”. One of the wings was reported to have come off as the plane fell. A second plane belonging to Prigozhin was later reported to have landed in Moscow.
In Putin’s speech tonight he commemorated the Battle of Kursk ion 23 August 1943. “The significance of victory in this large-scale Battle of Kursk cannot be overestimated,” he said. “It destroyed, incinerated the striking power of the Nazis, completed the turning point of the entire Second World War. Hitler planned to take revenge for Stalingrad here, he hoped for the strength of his tank divisions, for the SS formations, that they would break through the front and again roll like an avalanche to the East. But they were met with iron stamina, the valor of our soldiers and commanders, battle-hardened fighters of the Red Army. The Nazi onslaught failed.”
The President also presented state awards to the participants of the special military operation - the most distinguished servicemen of the 127th motorised rifle division of the 5th combined arms army.
The evident assassination was seen as a signal to the Russian elites that Putin and his cronies will stop at nothing to keep hold of power. Military expert Yuri Fedorov told Agentsvo: “If he had been shot down by an air defence missile, then a smoke trail would have been visible on the video. I have not seen a trail yet…. If it falls like it did, then there could have been an explosion on board or what may be called a terrorist attack.”
Ksenia Sobchak - known as Putin’s goddaughter - said Ksenia Sobchak. A Moscow Times source said Prigozhion was being punished for his coup bid. "On June 24, a campaign against Moscow, on August 24, two missiles. Everything is logical. The plane crashed literally 50 km [31 milers] from [Putin's] residence,” he said.
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, said: "It's definitely Ukraine that killed Prigozhin. For Putin, Prigozhin was no longer a problem. For Shoigu, Prigogine was no longer a problem. Big bosses don't take revenge because they have too many real problems and real enemies. This is a terrorist attack on Ukraine's [Flag Day]."
The pilots of the crashed plane did not inform air traffic control of any emergency sitaution, it was reported by Baza. This means any critical situation on board the aircraft developed very rapaidly. Vladimir Rogov, representative of the pro-Putin administration in Ukrainia's Zaporizhzhia region, said Wagner officials "confirm the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin. Kingdom of Heaven to the newly-departed servants of God, Yevgeny and Dmitry," he said. Russian state TV channels reported that Prigozhin was on board.
This evening, US President Joe Biden said he's "not surprised" that Prigozhin met a grisly end after he fell from the tyrant's grace in June. Biden said: “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
Biden made similar comments last month in Helsinki when he warned the Wagner chief to check his food for poison after his abortive rebellion. “If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate. I’d keep my eye on my menu,” Mr Biden said.
The UK's security services have chimed in, saying that the crash is definitely not an accident and has all the hallmarks of an FSB assassination. “Of course it’s Putin,” one source told The Telegraph. “Putin as a leader cannot afford to be humiliated in the way that he was. Putin functions on two things: loyalty above talent… and the consequence of betrayal.”
Another source added: “All the mood music, all the habits, all the history point to the FSB. The FSB remains loyal to Putin.”
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