Russia’s Wagner Mercenary Group Leader Prigozhin Dies In Plane Crash

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MOSCOW (Worthy News) – Russia’s Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short-lived uprising that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority, has died in a plane crash near Moscow, Russian authorities confirmed.

U.S. President Joe Biden suggested that Putin may have been behind the crash in which there were no survivors. ” I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” he said.

The aircraft, which had been traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, went down near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said.

Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation agency, published the names of all 10 people on board the crashed plane, including Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man who helped found the mercenary group and bore the call sign “Wagner.”

Prigozhin’s death leaves the Wagner Group leaderless and raises questions about its future operations in Africa and elsewhere.

The crash came as Russia said three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the border region of Belgorod.

Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal investigation to determine what had happened. Some unnamed sources told Russian media that one or more surface-to-air missiles had shot the plane down. There was no independent confirmation.

PUTIN SPEECHWRITER

However, Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer turned critic whom the Russian authorities have branded a “foreign agent,” suggested the Russian leader may have ordered the strike.

He said Putin, who is expected to run for another term in office next year, was behind the crash and had strengthened his authority in the process. “The establishment is now convinced that it will not be possible to oppose Putin,” Gallyamov wrote on the social media network Telegram. “Putin is strong enough and capable of revenge.”

Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded the mutiny against Russia’s top army leadership on June 23-24, which Putin said could have tipped Russia into civil war.

Wagner fighters shot down Russian attack helicopters during the revolt, killing an unconfirmed number of pilots in a move that infuriated the military.

He also spent months criticizing the way Russia was prosecuting its war in Ukraine, something Moscow calls a “special military operation.”

Prigozhin then tried to topple Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff.

Following the mutiny, Russians had wondered how he could get away with such brazen criticism without consequence.

ENDING MUTINY

The mutiny was ended by an apparent Kremlin deal, which saw Prigozhin agree to relocate with Wagner forces to neighboring Belarus.

But in practice, he had appeared to move freely inside Russia after the agreement, which had reportedly guaranteed his safety.

Prigozhin posted a video address on Monday, which he suggested was taken in Africa and turned up at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July.

Following his death, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner claimed Prigozhin had died as a hero.
“The head of the Wagner Group, a Hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia,” a post in the Grey Zone channel said.
“But even in Hell, he will be the best! Glory to Russia!”

On the ground, rescue workers found eight bodies of the 10 people aboard who died in the crash.

His death ended a career that saw him winning contracts to cater lavish events for the Kremlin Prigozhin and earning the nickname “Putin’s chef.”

For years, he denied he was anything more than a successful entrepreneur who had cooked his way into Putin’s inner circle.

But as his Wagner group emerged, it became clear there was more to than just the hors d’oeuvres. His death though being investigated tensions clouded in mystery for now.

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