The Wagner Group Leader Who Led The Mutiny Against Russia Has Been Killed In A Plane Crash, Russian Officials Say
US officials have said both publicly and privately that they are increasingly certain that Putin had ordered Prigozhin’s death.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group who led an armed mutiny against Russia’s military, has died in a plane crash, according to Russian officials.
Exactly two months ago, led by Prigozhin, the Wagner private military group, which had been fighting alongside Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, launched a brief armed rebellion.
The group came within 200 kilometers of Moscow but suddenly turned back after Belarus’ president Aleksander Lukashenko announced that he had brokered a deal with Prigozhin to stop the uprising.
The Kremlin said Prigozhin would move to Belarus as part of the deal, and all charges against him will be dropped.
The mutiny has been widely described as a hit to Putin’s strongman image and the biggest challenge to his 23-year rule.
Prigozhin had purportedly been traveling on a private jet from Moscow to Saint Petersburg on Wednesday Aug. 23 when the plane suddenly crashed.
All seven passengers and three crew members on board were killed, according to Russian aviation officials, who released a list of names including Prigozhin’s and Dmitri Utkin, Wagner’s top commander.
However, it was not immediately clear whether Prigozhin had died or not, and days of speculation followed.
Speaking the next day, Russian president Vladimir Putin did not confirm Prigozhin’s death but referred to him in the past tense, calling him “a person with a complicated fate.”
“He made some serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved necessary results,” Putin said.
On Aug. 27, Russian authorities said they had officially confirmed Prigozhin’s death through a genetic analysis.
US officials have said both publicly and privately that they are increasingly certain that Putin had ordered Prigozhin’s death.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement with the crash.
