WASHINGTON. An initial assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies has concluded that the plane crash which is believed to have claimed the life of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, was the result of an intentional explosion. This revelation comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Prigozhin, who had posed the most significant challenge to Putin’s 23-year rule.
Unnamed U.S. and Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the assessment strongly suggests Prigozhin was deliberately targeted. The explosion aligns with a pattern of suppressing critics that has been a consistent feature of Putin’s tenure. The officials refrained from detailing the cause of the explosion, which is widely presumed to have also caused the demise of several of Prigozhin’s top aides, seen as retribution for their mutiny against the Russian leadership.
As details of the intelligence evaluation surfaced, Putin offered condolences to the reported victims’ families and hinted at “serious mistakes” made by Prigozhin. The aircraft, carrying the Wagner company founder and six other passengers, crashed shortly after takeoff from Moscow. The Russian civil aviation authority confirmed 10 fatalities, but official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death is pending.
President Joe Biden commented on the crash, implicating Putin, although he acknowledged the absence of corroborating evidence. “I cannot confirm the facts, but I’m not taken aback,” Biden stated, emphasizing Putin’s pervasive influence over Russian affairs.
The passenger list included Prigozhin second-in-command, an integral member baptized by his war alias, along with Wagner’s logistics head, a fighter wounded in Syria U.S. airstrikes, and possibly a bodyguard. The presence of high-ranking Wagner members on the same flight raised questions about their joint mission to St. Petersburg.
Outside Wagner’s St. Petersburg headquarters, supporters assembled a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers, company flags, and candles. Putin acknowledged Prigozhin’s role in Ukraine, describing him as a complex figure who made both personal and collective contributions.
Numerous opponents critical of Putin have met untimely deaths or mysterious illnesses, fostering expectations of retaliation against Prigozhin, despite promises to pardon him following a June mutiny. Analysts speculated that the incident could be an attempt to dismantle Wagner as an autonomous entity.
The investigation into the crash’s cause is ongoing, leaving unanswered questions about the motive behind the plane’s explosion. The incident adds to a pattern of enigmatic deaths that are often linked to Kremlin involvement, prompting global scrutiny of Russia’s internal dynamics.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
