Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s presumed death in a plane crash has led many to believe Russia shot down the aircraft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the purported death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash on Wednesday has been widely speculated, as investigators and authorities attempt to unearth clues.
Russia’s civil aviation authority said that a private jet listing former Kremlin ally Prigozhin as a passenger had crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people onboard the aircraft. The passengers included Dmitry Utkin, a former Russian officer with the call sign «Wagner,» who is thought to have co-founded the mercenary outfit.
Reports initially came from Russian-related sources and have prompted theories of a potential set-up from the Kremlin.
Putin has since commented on news that Prigozhin had died but did not confirm the death.
«I’ve known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 1990s,» Putin said. «He was a man with no easy fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life, but he also achieved the needed results—both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause.»
Prigozhin, whose critique of Russian military leadership grew louder throughout the 18-month conflict in Ukraine, appears to have joined other Kremlin critics who have been found dead under mysterious circumstances. Throughout Putin’s presidency, these have included politicians, security agents and Russian officials.
Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov, among others, blamed Ukraine for the crash. Markov claimed via his Telegram channel on Thursday that «Prigozhin was killed by the Ukrainian special services» on the orders of President Volodymyr Zelensky as «a gift for Ukraine’s independence day on August 24,» a translation reads.
Kyiv has denied responsibility.
If the paramilitary leader and billionaire private military company financier is dead, it would have occurred exactly two months to the day that the Wagner Group conducted a brief coup against the Kremlin that garnered global attention yet led to a diminished military standing for Prigozhin and his men in terms of the Russia-Ukraine war, which reached the 18-month mark Thursday.
The bodies found at the crash site have not yet been identified, the influential Rybar military blogger account said on Thursday. The account is thought to be run by a former Russian Defense Ministry employee.
