The head of the Russian mercenary company Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was listed as a passenger on a private jet that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, the TASS news agency reported, citing Rosaviatsia, Russia's aviation authority.
According to Reuters, there was no confirmation that Prigozhin was physically on the plane, and the news agency could not immediately confirm that he was on board.
"An investigation has been launched into the Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the passenger list, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin," Rosaviatsia said.
Russian state television confirmed that Prigozhin was killed in the crash.
Wagner Group has been instrumental in the Russian campaign against Ukraine.
In June, Prigozhin led Wagner Group in a mutiny against the Russian government led by President Vladimir Putin after Prigozhin accused Russia of killing a "huge number" of his forces in strikes and vowed to retaliate. During the short-lived rebellion, Wagner forces captured key army headquarters in southern Russia and began marching on Moscow.
Prigozhin then made the stunning announcement that his troops were turning around and going back to field camps to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital.
Within hours of Prigozhin's about-face, the Kremlin announced he would leave for Belarus and Russia would not prosecute either him or the group's members.
Just days after the mutiny, Prigozhin met with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the three-hour meeting took place at the Kremlin on June 29th and also involved commanders from the military company Prigozhin founded.
According to Peskov, during the June 29th meeting, Putin offered an “assessment” of Wagner’s actions on the battlefield in Ukraine and “of the events of June 24th.” The president also “listened to the explanations of the commanders and offered them options for further employment and further use in combat,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
“The commanders themselves presented their version of what happened. They underscored that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the commander-in-chief, and also said that they are ready to continue to fight for their homeland,” Peskov said.
3 comments:
The plane exploded mid air so someone didn't mind killing the pilots and other innocents to either kill him or pretend to kill him.
The Russians are getting creative. No more falling off buildings "accidentally" or Novychok poisonings?
He certainly deserved it, the only surprise is, what took Putin so long he should have been room temperature the very same day he tried to overthrow Putin
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