Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a failed uprising against the Kremlin exactly two months ago, was on board a plane that crashed on Wednesday, according to Russian officials – raising questions about how exactly the disaster occurred. .
The crash took place northwest of Moscow and killed everyone on board, the Russian aviation agency said, including Prigozhin, head of the mercenary group that gained prominence for its brutal methods around the world and for its battlefield victories in the Ukraine war. .
What happened
The plane was an Embraer private jet carrying seven passengers and three crew, according to Russia’s emergency services ministry.
It had departed Moscow and was on its way to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in western Russia’s Tver region, Russian officials said.
Flight data shows the plane reached an altitude of around 28,000 feet before suddenly stopping transmitting tracking details.
The bodies of eight people were found at the crash site, according to Russian state media.
The official state-run Tass news agency reported that the plane “burned” on impact. He had been on the air for about half an hour.
A video published by the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti showed a plane crashing without a wing. A CNN could not confirm the authenticity of the video, but RIA Novosti claimed that it was the moment when an Embraer jet fell from the sky over the Tver region.
It is still unclear what caused the plane to crash. Russian authorities said they were investigating and conducting search operations.
“It is falling fast and leaving a trail of a lot of smoke. So this is an aircraft that was on fire. And it looks like it’s missing some structural parts, aerodynamic surfaces,” said veteran science and aerospace reporter Miles O’Brien The CNN after reviewing footage of the plane crash.
“An aircraft like this… they just don’t catastrophically fall out of the sky without something very unusual happening,” he added.
It could be caused by an explosion inside or outside the aircraft, O’Brien added – such as an explosive going off on board or the aircraft being hit by a missile.
David Soucie a former safety inspector for the US Federal Aviation Administration, echoed that possibility, saying the plane crash appeared to have only one wing left.
See also – Analysis: The effects of the plane crash with Prigozhin for Russian politics
Prigozhin was on board
Prigozhin and several top lieutenants on the Wagner were named in a passenger list shared by the Russian aviation agency.
A Telegram channel linked to Wagner, which had previously aired propaganda videos for the group, also released a statement saying that Prigozhin had been killed.
Other channels associated with Prigozhin and Wagner, including their official Telegram channel, remained silent. But there are other clues that link the warlord and the crash.
Another video released by RIA Novosti purports to show the crash site, where the last four digits of a license plate are visible in the wreckage of the plane’s engine: 2795. Prigozhin’s plane, linked to his companies and the Wagner group, is registered as RA – 02795.
The troubled relationship between Prigozhin and Putin
The accident comes exactly two months after Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.
Prigozhin and his Wagner troops seized key military sites and marched towards Moscow, where the Kremlin sent heavily armed troops into the streets. But before they could face each other, a deal was reached that put an end to the rebellion and sent Prigozhin and his fighters to neighboring Belarus.
It was the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule in 23 years. But he also painted a target on Prigozhin’s back, with some experts speculating that the warlord was a dead man walking.
US President Joe Biden suggested that Putin may have been involved in the crash: “I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not surprised.”
CIA Director, Bill Burns and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made similar comments, pointing to Putin’s long history of revenge and the frequency with which Russian critics or dissidents die under mysterious circumstances.
Bill Browder , a Putin critic and formerly the biggest foreign investor in Russia before he was expelled from the country, said he was surprised that Prigozhin survived so long after the rebellion. Other Wagner leaders and Prigozhin allies may now be on the run or in hiding, he said.
See also – Professor on plane crash: Putin does not forgive and does not forget
Public reaction so far
Prigozhin and Wagner have their share of supporters among the Russian public – as was evident during the failed uprising.
In towns briefly occupied by Wagner, videos showed residents cheering them on, taking pictures with the fighters and flagging down Prigozhin’s car just to shake his hand.
On Wednesday night, people gathered in St. Petersburg to leave tributes to Prigozhin, such as flowers, candles and Wagner emblems.
The video showed members of the public unfurling a large banner outside Wagner’s headquarters that read: “Wagner PMC. We are together.”
The photos show several people in mourning at the scene, including young people, couples and teenagers; some are clearly distressed, hugging each other.
The news is likely to meet with a very different reaction in Ukraine. Wagner’s forces were heavily involved in the seizure of several Ukrainian cities earlier this year, providing tangible progress for the Russian side – but often at the cost of sending waves of mercenaries into what Prigozhin called “the meat grinder”.
“There will be no tears shed here, if he died at all,” said the chief international security correspondent for the CNN , Nick Paton Walsh currently in Ukraine.
He added that a Ukrainian soldier on the front line had already sent him a text message on Wednesday to celebrate the news.
Source: CNN Brasil

Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.