Russia’s Investigative Committee has officially confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and leader of the mercenary force Wagner, died in a plane crash. Prigozhin had previously led a short-lived armed rebellion against Russia’s military.
According to Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, forensic and genetic testing positively identified all 10 bodies recovered from the crash site, and the findings are consistent with the plane’s manifest. However, no details regarding the cause of the crash were provided.
The civil aviation authority of Russia had already stated earlier in the week that Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants were among the passengers and crew of the ill-fated plane. The aircraft crashed halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the hometown of Prigozhin.
Two months ago, Prigozhin led a mutiny against Russia’s military, leading his mercenaries from Ukraine towards Moscow. President Vladimir Putin condemned the act as “treason” and promised consequences for those involved.
Surprisingly, the Kremlin swiftly negotiated a deal with Prigozhin to end the armed revolt, granting him freedom without charges and allowing him to settle in Belarus. However, questions remain as to whether Prigozhin will eventually face repercussions for the uprising, which posed a significant challenge to Putin’s authority.
A preliminary assessment by U.S. intelligence suggests that the plane crash may have been caused by an intentional explosion, fueling suspicions that the Russian president was involved in an assassination plot. The Kremlin, however, has dismissed these claims as a “complete lie.”
Western officials familiar with the assessment believe that Prigozhin was a likely target, as his assassination would align with Putin’s history of silencing his critics.
In addition to Prigozhin, his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin and Wagner logistics mastermind Valery Chekalov were also killed in the crash. Utkin, who was believed to have founded Wagner and gave the group its nom de guerre, had long been a prominent figure.
The future of Wagner, which played a significant role in Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and participated in operations in various African and Middle Eastern countries, is now uncertain.
Following the mutiny, Prigozhin was offered exile in Belarus by the Kremlin, with his fighters given the choice to join him, retire, or enlist in Russia’s regular army and return to Ukraine. Several thousand Wagner mercenaries opted to relocate to Belarus, where a camp was established southeast of the capital, Minsk.
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