After it was reported that warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the victims of an aircraft crash close to the Russian capital, Wagner mercenaries threatened to march on Moscow.read full article
On Friday evening, immediately after the news of the crash broke, Prigozhin-affiliated Telegram groups proclaimed his passing and claimed that “traitors” within Russia were to blame.
Prigozhin was allegedly on the jet that crashed in a field, killing all ten people on board, just two months after his failed coup attempt against Putin’s government, according to Russian officials.
Prigozhin and his assistant Dmitry Utkin were included on the list of passengers the Federal Air Transport Agency issued of individuals it suspected were on the flight.
Although it has been reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin was a passenger, Keir Giles of the London-based think tank Chatham House has issued the following warning: “It is also known that multiple individuals have changed their names to Yevgeny Prigozhin, as part of his efforts to obfuscate his travels.” Let’s not be shocked if he appears in a future African music video.
Outside the former Wagner Centre in St. Petersburg, followers of Wagner paid tribute to its commander as soon as the news spread. Although he has not officially commented, Putin was at a concert last night.
A case of delicious wine onboard may have actually been a bomb in disguise, according to rumours circulating on Russian social media platforms, despite the fact that the reason of the crash is yet unknown.
Prigozhin, formerly known as Putin’s chef and having a history of connections to the Kremlin ruler, is thought to have been on a “kill list” after his revolt ended in failure and he was deported to Belarus.
As reports of Prigozhin’s murder grew increasingly widespread, Wagner fighters released a terrifying video on social media, threatening retaliation if their commander was indeed killed.
However, wild speculation has claimed that Prigozhin may have staged his own demise after a second plane connected to Wagner was spotted on flight radar zigzagging over the same Tzer region, 60 miles north of the capital, according to the frenetic speculation.
He had previously succeeded in disappearing; in 2019, he was formally pronounced dead in Africa before reappearing just in time for Russia’s illegitimate invasion of Ukraine.
