Wagner mutiny leader Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in fiery plane crash

Wagner leader and Putin enemy Yevgeny Prigozhin is rumoured to have been killed by a hidden bomb on his private jet. See photos, video.

• Billionaire warlord’s rapid rise to power

Speculation is mounting that Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was taken down by a bomb hidden in a crate of wine on his private jet.

The warlord who led a revolt against Vladimir Putin, was killed in a fiery plane crash north of Moscow just days after he reappeared from his post-mutiny exile.

Russia’s federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya confirmed that Prigozhin was one of 10 people on board a private Embraer Legacy business jet travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region.

The Wagner leader’s right-hand man Dmitry Ukin, who founded the group in 2014, was also on board, the agency said.

“According to preliminary information, all those on board died,” the Russian emergency services ministry wrote on Telegram.

This video grab taken from the footage posted on a Wagner linked Telegram channel shows a plane falling in the sky near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region. Picture: Supplied

Sources claimed there were rumours that explosives had been loaded into the private jet hidden inside an “expensive wine” crate, The Sun reports.

Social media posts linked to the Wagner group said the private plane was shot down by Russian air defences.

Prigozhin died “as a result of actions of traitors to Russia”, the Grey Zone Telegram channel posted.

Footage from the crash, which came exactly two months after Prigozhin’s failed coup, shows the jet spiralling and crashing into a fireball of black smoke and debris.

In the hours after the crash, Wagner officials warned they would march on Moscow if Prigozhin’s death was confirmed.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was one of 10 people listed on the flight manifest. Picture: Supplied

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk. Picture: AFP

Eyewitnesses said they heard two loud explosions before a wing came of the plane and it spiralled into a field. Picture: Supplied

A translation read: “There are rumours about the death of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“We directly say that we suspect the Kremlin officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him.

“If the information about Prigozhin’s death is confirmed, we will organise a second “March of Justice” on Moscow! He’d better be alive, it’s in your own interests....”

As news of the billionaire’s death circulated, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on stage to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the WWII Battle of Kursk.

He later arrived back in Moscow in a speeding motorcade with lights flashing and sirens blaring, The Times reports.

Prigozhin just days earlier reappeared from exile in a video that appeared to place him in Africa. Picture: AFP

Dmitry Utkin, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s deputy leader, was also on board. Picture: Twitter

EXPERT WARNS OF ‘BODY DOUBLE’

An expert warned that it might not have been Prigozhin on board, even if it was his name on the passenger list.

Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program, Chatham House, told The Mirror a body double could have been used and to “not be surprised if (Prigozhin) pops up shortly in a new video from Africa.”

US President Joe Biden was briefed on the crash and said he was “not surprised” by the death of Prigozhin.

“There is not much that happens in Russia with Putin not behind it,” Biden said.

“But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”

It came on the same day that Prigozhin’s key ally “General Armageddon” Sergei Surovikin, who had not been seen since Wagner’s mutiny in June, was confirmed to have been “relieved from his post”.

Russian Telegram channels lit up with speculation over the cause of the crash, with some suggesting it was a “terrorist attack” amid unconfirmed reports that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has taken over the investigation from the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Russian police officers stand near the site of a plane crash near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region. Picture: AFP

A police officer stands guard near the crash site. Picture: AFP

Rescuers working at the site of a plane crash near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region. Picture: Russian Investigative Committee

WITNESSES HEARD BANGS, EXPLOSIONS

All 10 bodies have been recovered, Russia’s state-run news agency Interfax said.

A second business jet belonging to Prigozhin landed in Moscow soon after the first one crashed, making it unclear if he had boarded one or the other.

Russian state-owned Rossiya-24 TV channel was the first official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death on a federal level.

A video appeared, which allegedly shows the moment of the crash of Prigozhin's plane. pic.twitter.com/KkTmw7LoH9

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 23, 2023

Unverified witness statements reported online claimed that two large explosions were heard before one of the wings on the aircraft broke off,” According to Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko.

“There were two shooting blasts. When I heard the first explosion, I just raised my head and I saw sparks flying,” he said a witness posted to a Russian Telegram channel.

“After the first boom, the airplane began to smoke, and the second time, when there was an explosion, apparently, it was the engine to explode. And I the saw it circling and then it crashed”.

Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU says that an eyewitness reported two explosions, resembling missile firing, sounded in the sky before Prigozhin's plane went down.

"There were two shooting blasts. When I heard the first explosion, I just raised my head and I saw sparks… pic.twitter.com/xBeQZIhktW

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 23, 2023

Russian "Z-blogger" Markov:
"The assassination of Prigozhin and Utkin, the creators of Wagner PMC, is undoubtedly a Ukrainian terrorist attack for Ukraine's Independence Day tomorrow. All enemies of Russia are rejoicing today. And the murder of Prigozhin is the main achievement… pic.twitter.com/eJxj0CKdPH

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 23, 2023

The exiled leader of the opposition of Belarus, where some Wagner fighters moved after their short-lived mutiny in Russia, said that no Belarusian would miss Prigozhin.

“The criminal Prigozhin won’t be missed in Belarus. He was a murderer and should be remembered as such. His death might dismantle Wagner’s presence in Belarus, reducing the threat to our nation and neighbours,” Belarusian opposition chief Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said on social media.

Prigozhin stunned military observers when he appeared days before the crash suggesting he was in Africa with comments about making the continent “more free” while standing in a desert environment.

It was his first major video address since the short-lived mutiny in June, which ended only after interventions from Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko and a personal appeal from his ally, “General Armageddon”.

In May, when Prigozhin furiously accused Russian military leaders of failing to provide him with sufficient ammunition, Surovikin was officially named as an intermediary between Wagner and the army.

Yevgeny Prigozhin during the failed coup last June. Picture: Getty Images

Tensions between Wagner and the defence ministry came to a head on the night of June 23 to 24, when Prigozhin called for the toppling of Russia’s military command and sent an armoured column towards Moscow.

An unshaven and scowling Surovikin made a highly unusual video appeal to Prigozhin to stop.

“We are one blood. We are fighters. I urge you to stop,” he said in military uniform, staring down the camera.

Less than 24 hours later, Prigozhin had turned his forces back and agreed to a deal with the Kremlin to be exiled to Belarus. But Surovikin made no further public appearances.

The mutiny ended with a deal, mediated by Lukashenko, under which Prigozhin was expected to move to neighbouring Belarus with some of his men but had mostly stayed out of the public eye before this week’s video.