Wagner boss' doomed jet delayed on take off for 'mystery repairs' before blast

24 August 2023 , 20:26

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Workers take bodies from the wreckage (Image: AP)

The plane crash which is believed to have killed Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was caused by an explosion, Western intelligence officials believe.

President Vladimir Putin said Wagner Group boss Prigozhin, who launched an ill-fated coup against Moscow, had “made mistakes”. Prigozhin, 62, was on a plane which came down north of the capital on Wednesday. There were no survivors. Although it has not yet been confirmed, it is widely believed Putin ordered the would-be mutineer dead over Wagner’s botched “march on Moscow” uprising in June.

A US intelligence official said the plane crash fitted with Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics”. Putin said yesterday that a probe would be launched into the crash. He continued: “I have known Prigozhin for a long time, from the beginning of the 1990s. He was a man with a complex fate.

"He made mistakes; and he got the results he wanted – for himself and in response to my requests, for a common cause. He was a talented person. He worked in our country, but also abroad, in Africa. He worked with oil, gas, with precious metals.”

Wagner boss Prigozhin (TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official)

It had taken almost 24 hours for Putin to mention the private flight, which left Moscow for St Petersburg at 6pm local time on Wednesday. He claimed he only learned of the crash on Thursday morning. One US official said Prigozhin and nine others – including two pilots, a cabin crew member and six Wagner lieutenants – are most likely to have been killed by an S-300 surface to air missile.

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But Russian outlet Baza, publishing schematics of the plane, said a compartment near the bathroom in the tail section was an ideal place to conceal a bomb. Eyewitnesses from the town of Kuzhenkino, close to the location of the crash, saw the jet explode in the sky before tumbling to the earth, but did not report any missile strike.

Anastasia Bukharova, 27, said she was walking with her children on Wednesday when she saw the jet, “and then – boom! – it exploded in the sky and began to fall down.” She added: “Something sort of was torn from it in the air, and it began to go down and down.” She said she was scared it would hit houses in the village and ran with the children, but it ended up crashing into a field.

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Stewardess Kristina Raspopova, 39, who perished in the crash, told family prior to takeoff from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport that the flight had been delayed for a technical inspection and unspecified repairs. Several Russian sources claimed Prigozhin’s usual pilot, Artem Stepanov, was on holiday.

Rescuers found ten bodies at the crash site and Russian media cited anonymous sources in Wagner who said Prigozhin was dead. But there has been no official confirmation. Last night, Putin was under further pressure amid reports Wagner troops planned to mobilise against whoever killed Prigozhin. At Wagner HQ in St Petersburg, members built a memorial as they claimed the plane was deliberately downed. The flight manifest included Dmitry Utkin, long believed to be the founder of Wagner.

Other top associates listed on the manifest included Valery Chekalov, Wagner’s logistics mastermind, and fighter Yevgeny Makaryan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country was invaded by Russia last February, said: “We have nothing to do with this. Everyone understands who does.”

Flight attendant Kristina Raspopova (Social media/e2w)

The Institute for the Study of War said Russian authorities moved against Prigozhin as “the final step to eliminate Wagner”. Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin, said the President had to step in because, by remaining free, Prigozhin “shoved Putin’s face into the dirt.”

Last night, Putin came under further pressure amid reports Wagner troops planned to mobilise against whoever killed Prigozhin. Prigozhin and his men were exiled in Belarus since their failed coup.

Chris Hughes