Crash investigators are examining the wreckage of a jet that reportedly carried Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and crashed with no survivors. Prigozhin led a mutiny against the army leadership two months prior to the crash. An official investigation has been opened, but the cause of the crash has not been determined. The fate of Prigozhin, who heads the Wagner mercenary group and criticizes the army’s handling of Russia’s war in Ukraine, has not been confirmed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a virtual statement at a summit in South Africa but did not reference the plane crash. State media provided limited coverage of the incident.
The Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region. Black body bags were seen being removed from the crash site, and forensic investigators set up a tent to analyze the wreckage. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang before the jet plummeted to the ground.
Unnamed sources speculated that the plane may have been shot down by surface-to-air missiles, but this has not been confirmed. Mourners gathered at Wagner’s offices in St. Petersburg to pay their respects.
A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, called Grey Zone, announced Prigozhin’s death and called him a hero and patriot. Some of Prigozhin’s supporters blamed the Russian state or Ukraine for the crash, as Ukraine was due to celebrate Independence Day on the day of the crash.
If Prigozhin is indeed dead, it would eliminate the most significant challenge to Putin’s authority since he came to power. Prigozhin’s death would also leave Wagner leaderless and raise questions about its future operations in Africa and elsewhere.
According to flight-tracking data, the plane did not show any signs of a problem until its steep descent in the final 30 seconds. The names of all 10 people on board, including Prigozhin and his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, were released by Russia’s aviation agency.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter turned critic, suggested without evidence that Putin orchestrated the crash to strengthen his authority. Businessman and Kremlin critic Bill Browder agreed with this theory. US President Joe Biden expressed no knowledge of the incident but remarked that Putin is often behind events in Russia.
Additionally, another private jet believed to be linked to Prigozhin changed course and returned to Moscow after the crash.
Prigozhin had led a mutiny against the army leadership in June, which Putin claimed could have pushed Russia into civil war. The mutiny was suppressed after Prigozhin agreed to relocate to Belarus, but he seemed to move freely within Russia afterward. Prigozhin had publicly criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine and tried to overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
People in Russia had questioned how Prigozhin was able to openly criticize the government without consequences. He had recently posted a video suggesting he was in Africa and had attended a Russia-Africa summit in July.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Credit: The Star : News Feed
