24 August 2023 , 18:09
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In the days leading up to his death, the head of the Wagner company Yevgeny Prigozhin was in Africa propping up another coup in a war-ravaged part of the continent.
At the end of June, Vladimir Putin faced the most serious challenge to his authority in his 30-year reign after Prigozhin and his band of 25,000 war-hardened mercenaries amassed in Rostov-on-Don with their sights on Moscow, where they planned to topple the Kremlin's top military brass.
Prigozhin and his fighting force eventually backed down, but not without putting his head on the chopping block and making himself a prime target for Putin and his FSB. He kept a low-profile after the botched mutiny, but was spotted in a number of locations, most-recently in Africa.
In an August 21 Telegram video, Prigozhin was seen wearing military fatigues and wielding an assault rifle. As he spoke into the camera, he said that Wagner was at the undisclosed location to recruit "heroic warriors". These "warriors" would make Russia "even greater", he said. The setting of the video suggested he may have been recruiting in Africa, and he hints as much in the video.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage (AP)According to All Eyes on Wagner, which monitors the mercenary mob's activities, the video was recorded in Mali. Earlier this month, General Salifou Mody, who was one of a number of Niger officers who seized power in a military coup, is rumoured to have been courting the Wagner mercenaries in Mali.
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Before the video, Prigozhin was last spotted in St Petersburg on July 27, when he was photographed shaking hands with a presidential adviser from the war-torn Central African Republic.
Earlier today, Putin sent his condolences to the family of his former crony, calling him a "talented businessman" who he'd known since the 1990s. He added that further details as to the circumstances around the crash will take time to retrieve.
The plane wreckage in the Tver region (TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP via Get)In a televised address from his offices, Putin said his ex-pal was a "man of difficult fate" and that he "made serious mistakes in life". He went on to detail how Prigozhin worked in Russia and Africa, claiming that he was "engaged in oil, gas, precious metals and stones there", but without mentioning how his shadow army was accused of atrocities on the continent.
He added that Prigozhin "also sought to achieve the necessary results - both for himself and at time when I asked him to, for the common cause, such as in these recent months". Putin also confirmed and paid tribute to the Wagner company as a whole, saying they had made a "significant contribution" to the war in Ukraine. "We remember and know it, and we will not forget it," the tyrant said.
The 62-year-old was reportedly among the 10 people found dead in the wreckage of a plane crash last night. Witnesses described hearing a loud bang before watching the aircraft tumble from the sky and crash into a burning fireball in a nearby field near Moscow.