Yesterday the private plane of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and head of the Wagner private military company, crashed 300 kilometers from Moscow and less than 50 from Putin's residence in Valdaj. We may never know the causes, it is certain that it was not an accident. Rosaviatsiya, the federal agency that regulates air transport, confirmed the news that had been circulating for hours on the media and social networks, immediately publishing the passenger list. The agency announced that investigations into the accident would start immediately.
The Wagner militia directly confirmed the news of their leader's death on the Telegram channel 'gray zone':
"The head of the Wagner group, Hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Fatherland, Eugene Viktorovich Prigozhin, died as a result of the actions of the traitors of Russia. But even in hell it will be the best! Glory to Russia!”. Wagner also specified that in addition to Prigozhin on the plane was the number two of the organization, a certain Dmitry Utkin.
On the net a video resumes the stages of the plane crash. At 18.11 Moscow time during the fall, a trace of smoke near the nacelle preceded by two explosions. Then the fuselage crashed and shortly after other pieces would have arrived on the ground. Explosion on board or target of one or two missiles? The rescuers who arrived on the spot recovered all the bodies after a short time, but no one confirms having identified Prigozhin (the results of the DNA analyzes on the remains of the bodies are awaited).
Hence the conjecture that Progozhin is still alive and that he engineered everything to disappear from the scene forever. The Wagnerians also said that a crashed Embraer sister plane had previously reached St. Petersburg before returning to Moscow. Was Progozhin really on that other plane? Maybe!
A death foretold
In an interview with Financial Times two weeks ago Christo Grozev, a leading reporter on the investigative journalism platform Bellingcat, had predicted his death after the attempted mutiny at the end of June. From that day on, the Financial Times followed the two Brazilian Wagner jets used by Prigozhin on Flightradar. According to Bellingcat, the head of Wagnerr often changed planes at the last moment so as not to know which one he was flying on.
"Putin went on TV and called Prigozhin a traitor. Everyone knows what is done with the 'traitors' and Putin he wants to see him dead. But she can't do it yet, said Grozhev. Within six months Prigozhin will be dead or there will be a second coup", explained the reporter. In the interview, Grozev recalled saying last January that Prigozhin would rebel against Putin "within six months - and that's exactly what happened."
In recent months, Prigozhin's tirades had become a constant affront. First against the Russian doves, then against the military leaders, repeatedly accused of incompetence. Starting with Defense Minister Shoigu, guilty according to him of having abandoned the Wagner on Bakhmut's front without ammunition or air support, and even of bombing one of his bases.
But the worst affront was last June's attempted coup. “Unforgivable” for someone like Putin.
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