The Wagner Group Chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was buried less than three months after rebelling against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash about 60 miles north of Moscow. The plane was headed towards Saint Petersburg when a video posted by a Russian news agency showed the plane falling out of the sky. A genetic analysis from the bodies confirmed the identities of all ten passengers on the plane, including Prigozhin and several of his lieutenants.
The crash occurred exactly two months after Prigozhin’s mutiny towards the Kremlin in June. The mutiny started when Prigozhin accused Russian officials of shelling his soldiers on Friday, June 23. The Wagner Chief states “There are 25,000 of us and we are coming to sort things out,” adding, “those who want to join us, it’s time to finish with this mess”
Wagner took control of military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don early the next morning. Prigozhin’s forces continued moving toward Moscow when Putin made a televised appearance stating, “This is a stab in the back of our country and our people.”
The mercenaries stopped approximately 125 miles away from Moscow under instructions from Prigozhin to return to their bases on the evening of Saturday, June 24. During the short-lived mutiny, Wagner shot down six helicopters, killed over ten Russian pilots, and damaged roads and buildings.
While many onlookers outside of Russia remain confused as to why Prigozhin stopped, the Wagner chief states “Now the moment has come when blood can be shed, therefore, understand all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed on one of the sides, we turn our columns around and go back to the field camps according to the plan.”
Prigozhin came to an agreement with Putin that he would move to Belarus, and Putin claimed that he would not be prosecuted. Prigozhin met with Putin less than a week after the end of the mutiny along with approximately 35 other people. Neither side confirmed what was discussed. Several uncertainties remain as to the whereabouts of Prigozhin between this meeting and his death, however, he appeared in a video address that suggests that he spent some time in Africa.
The cause of the plane crash is not known at this point, but several speculations point to Putin. The founder of R.Politik consultancy, Tatiana Stanovaya, points out that “no matter the cause of the plane crash, everyone will see this as an act of retaliation and retribution, and the Kremlin won’t particularly counteract this view.”
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, posts on X.com, “Why did Putin choose to kill Prigozhin in such a dramatic way?” Member of RUSI, Samuel Ramani, also highlighted that “Putin has a habit of belated revenge.”
While the U.S. continues to monitor for further details about the crash, the Kremlin believes that Prigozhin was “a man with a complicated fate who has made many serious mistakes in his life.”
