Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a airplane that crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 passengers on board, Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority has mentioned.
There has been no remark from the Kremlin or Russia’s defence ministry as Prigozhin’s dying is but to be formally confirmed.
The crash comes two months after the Wagner mercenary boss led a short-lived munity in opposition to Russia’s navy prime brass.
Prigozhin was described on the time by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “traitor”.
The mercenary boss was Mr Putin’s chef and was previously an in depth confidant of the Russian chief.
Mr Putin has spoken publicly for the primary time for the reason that crash after delivering a speech on the BRICS summit – however he didn’t point out Prigozhin.
The reality the Wagner boss’s dying has not been confirmed and an absence of verifiable information has led to hypothesis following the crash.
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‘Plane introduced down by bomb in a wine crate’
Many observers, and a number of the Wagner boss’s supporters, have mentioned the Russian state is accountable.
It is usually recommended Mr Putin could have wished to down the airplane in revenge for the mutiny.
One hearsay circulating is that the airplane was downed by a bomb in a crate of wine that was gifted to the passengers on the flight.
The declare is unverified.
Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele instructed Sky News: “Certainly it’s an inside job, the suggestion is that it’s a bomb in a wine crate.
“That’s a form of ironic finish for Putin’s former caterer.”
Some observers consider Moscow could have introduced down the airplane with surface-to-air missiles.
Janis Sarts, director of NATO’s strategic communications centre of excellence, instructed Latvian tv “the downing of the plane was certainly no mere coincidence”.
The crash got here the identical day that Russian media reported that General Sergei Surovikin, a former prime commander in Ukraine who was reportedly linked to Mr Prigozhin, was dismissed from his publish as commander of Russia’s air power.
Criminal case opened
Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation company, has printed the names of all 10 folks on board the downed airplane.
This included Prigozhin and his deputy Dmitry Utkin who helped discovered the Wagner mercenary group.
The Investigative Committee of Russia has mentioned it’s wanting into the crash which occurred whereas the airplane was travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg.
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The committee has confirmed in an announcement that 10 folks have been killed and a prison case has been opened – however there was no point out of Prigozhin.
A Reuters reporter on the crash website has seen males carrying black physique luggage away from the scene on a stretcher.
Part of the airplane’s tail and different fragments lay on the bottom close to a wooded space the place forensic investigators had erected a tent.
Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner, has pronounced their chief lifeless.
The group additionally hailed Prigozhin as a hero and a patriot who had died by the hands of unidentified folks it referred to as “traitors to Russia”.
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What we all know in regards to the crash
Mourners left flowers and lit candles close to Wagner’s workplaces in St Petersburg early on Thursday.
Some unnamed sources instructed Russian media they believed the airplane had been shot down by a number of surface-to-air missiles.
Whoever or no matter was behind the crash, Prigozhin’s dying would rid Mr Putin of somebody who had mounted essentially the most critical problem to the Russian chief’s authority since he got here to energy in 1999.
Others who’ve opposed Mr Putin or his pursuits have additionally died beneath unclear circumstances or come near dying, together with outspoken political leaders and journalists.
The Kremlin has at all times denied any state involvement in such incidents.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech author turned critic whom the Russian authorities have branded a “foreign agent”, recommended, with out proof, that the Russian chief, who is anticipated to run for an additional time period in workplace subsequent yr, was behind the crash and had strengthened his authority within the course of.
“The establishment is now convinced that it will not be possible to oppose Putin,” Gallyamov wrote on Telegram. “Putin
is strong enough and capable of revenge.”
The airplane that crashed, a Brazilian Embraer Legacy 600 mannequin, has solely recorded one accident in over 20 years of service, in line with web site International Aviation HQ, and it was not as a consequence of mechanical failure.
Embraer mentioned it has complied with worldwide sanctions imposed on Russia and had not supplied upkeep for the
plane since 2019.
The airplane confirmed no signal of an issue till a precipitous drop in its last 30 seconds, in line with flight-tracking knowledge.
Prigozhin was final seen in a video on Monday that appeared to have been shot in Africa, the place he spoke about making the continent “free”.
The Wagner Group boss launched footage of himself talking whereas carrying camouflage and holding a rifle.
Source: information.sky.com”