Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, a private army in Russia, has reportedly died in a plane crash in the country. Nine other people reported to be on board the aircraft are also part of the casualties.
According to TASS, Russian state-owned news media, the country’s agency for air transport said Prigozhin was included in the list of passengers of the flight which crashed on Wednesday. “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,” TASS quoted the agency as saying. The plane which had been in flight for less than 30 minutes reportedly caught fire after crashing.
TASS, while quoting emergency services, added that four bodies have been found so far. PRIGOZHIN, THE SOLDIER WHO REBELLED AGAINST PUTIN On June 24, Prigozhin mobilised his troops against the country’s military and President Vladmir Putin. Prigozhin said his fighters had crossed the border from Ukraine into Russia and would destroy anyone in their way, including roadblocks and aircraft. Wagner, established in 2014, had been fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine. But things took a different turn when Prigozhin accused Russian army of attacking a Wagner camp and killing a “huge amount” of his men.
He promised to take revenge and “stop the evil brought by the military leadership of the country”. Putin described the mutiny as a “stab in the back” and vowed that anyone involved in the “armed mutiny” would face consequences as traitors of the state. The Russian leader added that all relevant orders had been given to the military to take “brutal” actions in eliminating the threat that the Wagner group had become. The mutiny was described as the greatest threat to Putin’s rule since he became Russia’s president in 1999.
