Kremlin silent on reported death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in jet crash
Graham Russell
Joe Biden has strongly suggested Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, as Ukrainian officials interpreted the incident as a warning to Russian “elites” and flowers were laid for the late Wagner chief outside the organisation’s St Petersburg headquarters.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” the US president said after a briefing after the crash of Prigozhin’s private jet between Moscow and St Petersburg. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the crash. Rosaviatsia, the Russian aviation authority, said Prigozhin and senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people travelling on the Embraer business jet at the time.
Putin himself made no mention of the incident during a speech in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during the second world war. He instead hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in Ukraine:
Key events
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Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said on Telegram that “no matter what caused the plane crash, everyone will see it as an act of vengeance and retribution” by the Kremlin, and “the Kremlin wouldn’t really stand in the way of that.”
“From Putin’s point of view, as well as the security forces and the military – Prigozhin’s death must be a lesson to any potential followers,” Stanovaya said in a Telegram post. According to her, after the mutiny, Prigozhin “stopped being the authorities’ partner and could not, under any circumstances, get that status back.”
“He also wasn’t forgiven,” Stanovaya wrote. “Prigozhin was needed for some time after the mutiny to painlessly complete the dismantling of Wagner in Russia.”
But overall, “alive, happy, full-of-strength and full-of-ideas Prigozhin was, definitely, a walking source of threats for the authorities, the embodiment of Putin’s political humiliation.”
Stanovaya doesn’t expect much public outcry over Prigozhin’s death. She said those who supported him will be “more scared than inspired to protest,” while others would see it as a “deserved outcome.”
Kremlin silent on reported death of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in jet crash
Graham Russell
Joe Biden has strongly suggested Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, as Ukrainian officials interpreted the incident as a warning to Russian “elites” and flowers were laid for the late Wagner chief outside the organisation’s St Petersburg headquarters.
“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” the US president said after a briefing after the crash of Prigozhin’s private jet between Moscow and St Petersburg. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind. But I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
The Kremlin has not yet commented on the crash. Rosaviatsia, the Russian aviation authority, said Prigozhin and senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were among 10 people travelling on the Embraer business jet at the time.
Putin himself made no mention of the incident during a speech in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Kursk during the second world war. He instead hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in Ukraine:
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine – and the reported death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Russia’s aviation authority has said Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched an abortive mutiny in June, and top Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin were on board a private jet en route from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region on Wednesday. All 10 people on board the plane – seven passengers and three crew members – have died, according to Russia’s emergencies ministry.
There was no immediate official comment from the Kremlin or the defence ministry on Prigozhin’s apparent death. Putin delivered a speech for the 80th anniversary of the Kursk battle in the second world war durning which he did not mention the crash and hailed “all our soldiers who are fighting bravely and resolutely” in the special military operation in Ukraine.
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Flightradar24 online tracking showed the Embraer Legacy 600 (plane number RA-02795) dropped off the radar at 6.11pm Moscow time. An unverified video clip posted to social media showed a plane resembling a private jet falling out of the sky. Another unverified clip showed burning wreckage on the ground.
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The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but Prigozhin’s allies quickly accused the Russian defence ministry of assassinating him. Grey Zone, a Telegram channel with more than 500,000 subscribers linked to Wagner, hailed him a hero and a patriot who had died at the hands of unidentified people it called “traitors to Russia”.
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Russian investigators opened a criminal investigation. Unnamed sources told Russian media they believed the plane had been shot down by one or more surface-to-air missiles, according to Reuters. Neither Reuters nor the Guardian could confirm that.
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The other five passengers were named as Sergey Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov and Nikolay Matuseev. The crew were named as Commander Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova.
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In addition to Utkin, Prigozhin had been accompanied on the plane by a cameraman, Wagner’s logistics manager, and Prigozhin’s personal security detail, according to Fontanka, a St Petersburg news outlet that has covered Prigozhin’s operations extensively.
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The plane showed no sign of problems until a precipitous drop in its final 30 seconds, according to flight-tracking data. It made a “sudden downward vertical”, said Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24. Within about 30 seconds it plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet. “Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Petchenik said.
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The type of jet has a good safety record, with only one recorded accident in more than 20 years of service, and that was not related to mechanical failure. Embraer said it was aware of a plane crash in Russia involving a Legacy 600 aircraft but it did not have further information about the case and had not been providing support services for the jet since 2019, when the plane was placed under international sanctions.
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There was little surprise abroad over Prigozhin’s apparent death. After a briefing on the incident, the US president, Joe Biden, said: “I don’t know for a fact what happened. But I’m not surprised … There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
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Russia meanwhile has also relieved Gen Sergei Surovikin of his command of the Russian aerospace forces, in the highest-level sacking yet of a military commander after Prigozhin’s abortive mutiny. Surovikin was seen as an ally of Wagner in the defence ministry and questions had been asked about whether he or other senior commanders aided the mutiny or had prior knowledge of Prigozhin’s plans.
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A Russian military pilot has reportedly defected with his helicopter to Ukraine after a six-month intelligence operation. A Russian military blogger said a helicopter crossed the border with three people on board “a couple of weeks ago” but claimed the aircraft had lost its way. Ukrainian officials appeared to confirm that the aircraft had landed in Ukraine but did not give any further details.
