How did the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner die? The questions are going well, while the puzzle is struggling to piece itself together. US officials said several theories about what caused Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet to crash were still being investigated. Thursday, August 24, General Pat Ryder, spokesperson for the Pentagon, did not offer firm answers on the accident, while ensuring that there was no indication that a surface-to-air missile had shot down the plane with at on board the whole staff of Wagner. “Reports of the use of such a weapon are ‘inaccurate’,” he added.
If he claimed not to be able to communicate information on the causes of the crash, the latter could well have led to the death of Evgueni Prigojine and the nine other passengers – none of whom survived. “We estimate, based on a number of factors, that he was probably killed,” General Pat Ryder said. For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the accident and spoke of Yevgeny Prigojine in the past tense, although he did not explicitly confirm the death of the Wagner leader. As online speculation questioned the demise of the ferocious Russian militia boss, the Russian media apparatus was quick to quell the rumours.
If caution remains in order, the theory of the accident seems hardly probable while the Embraer Legacy 600 had the reputation of being a reliable model, remind our colleagues from Release. “No definitive conclusions have yet been drawn, but an explosion is the main theory behind what caused a private plane to crash in a field between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The explosion may have been caused by a bomb or another device placed on the plane, although other theories, such as that of adulterated fuel, are also under discussion,” said intelligence officials, on condition of anonymity, quoted by the New York Times.
“A Catastrophic Event in Flight”
The analysis by the American daily flight data and video of the crash indicates that there was most likely at least one “catastrophic in-flight event that occurred several minutes before the private plane crashed”. Experts say the steep drop and widespread debris suggest an explosion or sudden rupture of the plane rather than a mechanical failure. “Having such a large debris field is unusual if the aircraft suffered no structural damage during its flight,” said in the New York TimesIan Williams, Deputy Director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
US officials said it seemed likely that Vladimir Putin ordered the assassination of Yevgeny Prigozhin. According to them, the founder of Wagner was, since his coup attempt, “a dead man walking”, as they say in the United States.
Rescuers work at the site of the air crash that claimed the life of the boss of the paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine, August 23, 2023 in the Tver region, Russia
© / afp.com/Handout
“Putin has a history of operations”
Especially since his death occurs at the same time or shortly after the Russian president dismissed General Sergei Surovikin from his military command. For several months, General Surovikin was in charge of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but he has not been seen since Wagner’s mutiny last June. He, like Yevgeny Prigozhin, was considered to be ruthlessly effective in the war in Ukraine.
Even though the mercenary leader was seen as an enemy of the United States, US officials have watched with interest how Putin’s former ally has become a thorn in the Kremlin’s side. It remains to be seen what the consequences of his disappearance will be for the Russian regime. “Putin has a fairly clear history of operations at least in his own country with complete impunity”, estimated in the columns of Politico a US official familiar with Russian politics. “I don’t feel like there’s a mechanism by which he’ll be held accountable… Just because people hate you doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to lose power.”