Keep your friends close and enemies closer….but what if the friend has turned into a foe? Would you forgive or forget their existence? Or wipe the existence out?
Being a confidant of Vladimir Putin puts one on the top of the pyramid. But once the bond is broken, they might be thrown off from the top, plummeting to death.
On 23rd August, an aircraft, identified as a business jet, crashed in the Tver region in the Northwest of Moscow. Reportedly, the crash sustained no survivors. The Passenger’s list included a prominent name, Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner Russian Mercenary Group. However, there is no confirmation yet whether he actually onboarded the plane. Hence, his death still remains unambiguous.
June 23, 2023: Prigozhin led a mutiny against the Russian government. Once a close confidant of Putin, the parliamentary leader raised concerns over the administration and criticized his country’s top brass.
Prigozhin’s forces are known for their ruthless and unforgiving strategies for Russia in the battle against Ukraine; the point is that Progozhin was a significant asset for Putin’s administration.
But then, the 62-year-old chief of Wagner Group waged a coup against the government.
However, an apparent deal was arranged between Putin and Prigozhin with the condition that Prigozhin was exiled from Russia forever, and he and his forces should relocate to Belarus. Hence, the circumstances seem suspicious about why the aircraft was located near Moscow.
Was Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Plane Shot Down? Where Did Prigozhin Plane Go Down?
As per the latest reports, there have been no mentions of an external attack on the plane. The first accounts of the incident were revealed by The Russian Ministry of Emergency Services in a post on Telegram. The preliminary investigation is still ongoing. Hence, there are no affirming reports on whether the plane malfunctioned or was shot down.
The flight was from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow to St. Petersburg, as confirmed by the agency. After the crash, the ruins were found in the Tver Region near Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Services stated on its Telegram account: “In the Tver region, near the village of Kuzhenkino, a private Embraer Legacy aircraft crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg.”
Was Yevgeny Prigozhin on the Plane?
Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said in a statement.
“An investigation of the Embraer plane crash that happened in the Tver Region this evening was initiated. According to the passenger list, first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list.”
But this does not imply that Prighozin was definitely on the plane. Unless the forensics report confirms, we cannot be certain that he was on board.
Is Prigozhin Dead or Alive After the Plane Crash?
Now, the question remains whether Prigozhin died after the plane crash.
So far, we have only these facts–
- Prigozhin’s name was included in the Passenger’s list for the scheduled flight.
- There are no definite reports on whether he was on the plane.
- The Telegram post read, “According to preliminary information, all on board were killed. EMERCOM of Russia is conducting search operations.”
There is only one missing piece to this puzzle, which shall be revealed only after further investigation.
The USA National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that, if confirmed, Prigozhin’s death was pretty inevitable–
“We have seen the reports. If confirmed, no one should be surprised.”
“The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now — it would seem — to this.”
Who Died With Prigozhin?
The Telegram post confirmed 10 people on board, including 3 crew members. Here’s the complete list–
PASSENGERS
- Sergey Propustin
- Evgeniy Makaryan
- Aleksandr Totmin
- Valeriy Chekalov
- Dmitriy Utkin
- Nikolay Matuseev
- Prigozhin
CREW MEMBERS
- Cmdr. Aleksei Levshin
- Co-pilot Rustam Karimov
- Flight attendant Kristina Raspopova
Possible Theory on Why The Plane Crash Could Be Planned
The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken weighed in on the developing situation–
“The fact that Prigozhin made a direct challenge to Putin’s authority, the fact that he questioned publicly the very premises that Putin has advanced for the aggression against Ukraine – that’s playing out and will continue to play out,” Blinken told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen the ongoing drama, too, of where is Prigozhin, what is the arrangement with Putin?”
“If I were Mr. Prigozhin, I would remain very concerned. NATO has an ‘Open Door’ policy; Russia has an open windows policy, and he needs to be very focused on that.”
The “open window policy” is in reference to Russia’s tendency to assassinate those who do not stand in favor of Putin. They have a history of “accidents under mysterious circumstances.” Some might even fall off from an ‘open window.’
Prigozhin’s Last Public Appearance Before His Apparent Death
Prigozhin immediately went into recluse after the failed mutiny. However, a rare video resurfaced on Monday, August 21. The Wagner-affiliated channels on Telegram published a video of the mercenary leader. Some people recognized the background to be from Africa.
You can even see armed men in a pickup truck for a brief second. Here’s a transcript of what Wagener said in the video–
“We are working. The temperature is plus 50 [Celsius]. Everything’s the way we like it. PMC Wagner is conducting reconnaissance, making Russia even greater on every continent – and Africa even freer.”
“Justice and happiness for the African nations,” he said. “We are messing with ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other banditos. We hire real supermen and continue working on tasks that were set to us and we promised to carry out.”
NBC News translated the video, although the news outlet could neither confirm the video’s authenticity nor be sure of the location. Wagner has previously operated in some regions of Africa– Mali, the Central African Republic, and Libya.
What is your deduction for the plane crash? Do you think Putin is on a vendetta and the rest of the people on the plane are just collateral?
What percentage chance do you think that Prigozhin might be alive? Let us know in the comments section below.
1 Comment
Would this guy really be on a plane that documents him as a passenger? We are talking about someone who has numerous identities, numerous disguises, and numerous body doubles. Would this man really get on a plane, from Moscow nonetheless, list his name, take his successor and top leadership, during a period where he is being targeted by multiple agencies trying to kill or arrest him, aside from Russia. Doesn’t make sense.