Social media channels associated with the Wagner mercenary group have cried foul play after the organisation’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was suspected to have perished when his plane went down just north of Moscow Wednesday night.
The ringleader of June’s aborted coup against the Kremlin, Prigozhin was among ten confirmed to be on the flight that crashed in the Tver region on its way to St. Petersburg with Wagner media outlets claiming the private plane was brought down by Russian air defence.
There is no official statement yet from President Putin. Prigozhin’s crash came the same day that senior Russian general Sergei Surovikin was reportedly ousted from his role under of suspicion of being loyal to the Wagner mercenary group.
A fast riser in Russian elite circles, Prigozhin and his Wagner group have been instrumental in Russia’s war against Ukraine and have a growing geopolitical presence in West Africa. Prigozhin shot to international prominence earlier this year for his public denunciation of Putin and the war effort, which he felt was lacking, followed by his now-famous march on Moscow.
Russian Telegram channels report residents near the crash heard two loud bangs before the plane crashed. Aviation authorities claim all ten bodies have been recovered. Western correspondents in St. Petersburg report that mourners have already begun placing flowers outside the mercenary group’s headquarters.
Vladimir Putin did not reference the plane crash in his speech to the BRICS conference Thursday morning.
Both President Joe Biden and CIA Director William Burns have remarked that Prigozhin’s demise was expected. The death of the Wagner boss plays into the Western belief that the resolve of the Russian political and military leadership is beginning to flounder.
The Wagner group, which first appeared during Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, has featured prominently in the current Ukrainian war as well as in various Russian-backed military takeovers in the Sahel region.
