Russian rescue services said a private plane crashed Wednesday (August 23rd) in the Tver region of Russia with ten people on board, leaving no survivors. The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, is on the passenger list, Russian news agencies said.
Information confirmed by the Air Transport Agency. “According to the airline, the following passengers were on board the Embraer – 135 aircraft,” Rossaviatsia said, citing the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin, but also that of his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin. According to her, the flight was taking place “under a duly issued airspace permit”.
According to the Ria Novosti, Tass and Interfax agencies, the plane was to connect Moscow to Saint Petersburg. Rescue services previously said all the passengers on the plane were dead.
Videos whose authenticity Agence France Presse could not confirm were broadcast on several Telegram channels claiming to be linked to Wagner, showing burning debris in a field or a device falling from the sky.
As operations continue, President Vladimir Putin gave a speech on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk in World War II, visiting this region of southwestern Russia, bordering Ukraine.
Without mentioning the crash, Vladimir Putin praised on stage in front of the crowd the “dedication” and “loyalty” of the Russian soldiers in Ukraine, who are “fighting with courage and determination”.
An adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, implied that Yevgueni Prigojine could have been eliminated by the Kremlin. “The dramatic elimination of Prigozhin and Wagner’s command two months after (their) coup attempt is a signal from Putin to Russian elites ahead of the 2024 elections,” he wrote on X (ex Twitter ), believing that “Putin does not forgive anyone”.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was behind an aborted rebellion against the Kremlin, the Russian General Staff and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, led by his men, who had briefly captured military sites in southern Russia before heading to Moscow. Evgueni Prigojine had quickly given up this mutiny, in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
On Monday evening, Yevgueni Prigojine appeared in a video posted by groups close to Wagner on social networks, where he claimed to be in Africa. In a desert landscape, he said he was working to “make Russia even greater on all continents and Africa even freer”.
In Ukraine, Evguéni Prigojine distinguished himself during the long and bloody battle for Bakhmout, in the East, where his men, notably recruited from Russian prisons, captured the city in May at the cost of heavy losses. A “meat grinder”, he said himself. It was during this battle that his conflict with senior Russian military officials escalated, with Yevgeny Prigojine accusing them of incompetence and not delivering enough ammunition to him.
The fatal crash of this plane, with Wagner boss Evgueni Prigojine on board, is a “signal” sent by Vladimir Putin to the Russian elites, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency said on Wednesday. “The spectacular elimination of Prigozhin and Wagner’s command two months after [their] coup attempt is a signal from Putin to the Russian elites ahead of the 2024 elections,” said Mykhaïlo Podoliak on X (ex-Twitter) , believing that “Putin does not forgive anyone”.
US President Joe Biden said he was “not surprised” that Wagner’s boss may have died in a plane crash in Russia on Wednesday. “I don’t quite know what happened yet, but I’m not surprised,” he told reporters. “Few things happen in Russia without Putin having something to do with it,” added the American president, from the mountains of the American West where he is with his family.
“We have seen what has been reported. If confirmed, it would come as no surprise to anyone,” Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US Executive National Security Council, said earlier. “The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow and now, it would seem, to that,” she added.
“Criminal Prigozhin will not be missed by anyone in Belarus. He was a murderer and should be remembered as such,” said Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on X (ex-Twitter), saying “his death could dismantle Wagner’s presence in Belarus”, an allied country of Moscow.
