On Wednesday, August 23, a small plane crashed in the Tver region of Russia. According to Russian media reports, the plane belonged to Yevgeniy Pryzhyn, the head of the so-called Wagner PMC.
What is known about Prigozhin’s alleged death:
- Rosaviatsiya officially confirmed that Yevgeny Prygozhin and Dmitry Utkin (known by his call sign Wagner, Prygozhin’s deputy) were on board the Embraer-135. This event took place exactly two months after the beginning of the unsuccessful “revolt” of the Wagnerians.
- According to the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, there were ten people on board: seven passengers, including Wagner employees, including Valery Chekalov, the owner of several legal entities related to Pryzhin, and three crew members.
- The cause of the crash remains unknown. According to the Baza channel, the pilots did not send any emergency signals to the controllers. Various versions of the incident are being offered in Russian media telegram channels, ranging from a collision with two air defense missiles by mistake to a possible terrorist attack on board. Propagandists say that all possible options are being studied.
- According to Russian journalist Andrei Zakharov, Pryzhozhin, along with Wagner’s “command staff,” was returning from Africa. A Russian news agency reported that the oligarch boarded his plane only in Moscow.
- According to the Center for National Resistance, Wagnerites in Belarus have begun to close their camps and are preparing to move toward the Russian border.
- At the time of the plane crash, Russian dictator Putin was in the Kursk region for a concert dedicated to the “80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk.”
A new report from the Institute for the Study of War says that the plane carrying Pryzhyn and Wagner’s PMC leadership was almost certainly destroyed on the direct orders of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. And the downing of the plane by the air defense system could have been a demonstrative retaliation against the Wagnerites for the losses of Russian aviation on June 24.
Source
ISW