Prigozhin plane crash: Wagner threaten Putin after leader ‘killed’ | World News
Wagner soldiers have issued a menacing threat to Vladimir Putin just hours after their mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was reportedly killed in a plane crash in Russia.
The 62-year-old was on board his private jet when it plummeted to the ground around 60 miles north of Moscow, Russian officials claim.
All 10 people travelling on the aircraft are said to be dead after Russia’s aviation authority released a list of names of the victims.
Dmitry Ukin, the Wagner Group’s co-founder and Prigozhin’s ‘right-hand man’, was also among those killed when the Embraer jet suddenly dropped out of the sky.
Speculation has been swirling over whether or not the warlord was actually on the plane, which was travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg.
The crash near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region immediately raised suspicions given it happened exactly two months after Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Vladimir Putin.
And Wagner fighters have warned that their boss ‘better be alive’ or they will launch a second ‘march of justice’ on the Russian capital city of Moscow, reports The Sun.
A translation of an address by the paramilitary group last night read: ‘There are rumours about the death of the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.
‘We directly say that we suspect the Kremlin officials led by Putin of an attempt to kill him.
‘If the information about Prigozhin’s death is confirmed, we will organise a second “March of Justice” on Moscow! He’d better be alive, it’s in your own interests….’
Other armed men claiming to be part of the unit said in a video shared online: ‘There’s a lot of talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do. We can tell you one thing.
‘We are getting started, get ready for us.’
There has been no official comment from the UK or US governments and the Kremlin is yet to officially name Prigozhin as one of the casualties.
However, state media and Telegram accounts linked to Wagner have reported that both Prigozhin and Utkin are dead.
The other passengers named by Russian officials were Sergey Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, Valeriy Chekalov and Nikolay Matuseev.
The three crew staff were commander Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova Kristina.
One prominent Wagner channel, Grey Zone, pronounced Prigozhin dead and hailed him as a hero and patriot who died at the hands of ‘traitors to Russia’.
His supporters are already paying tribute with his office windows in St Petersburg lit up after dark with a giant cross in a mark of respect and mourning, while flowers were left and candles lit near the offices early on Thursday.
Amid the speculation, numerous theories are already emerging with some of his supporters blaming the Russian state, while others have held Ukraine responsible.
With the track record of the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, there is a chance disinformation is being spread.
Putin was seen enjoying a night at a concert dedicated to the anniversary of Soviet troops’ victory in the Battle of Kursk during World War II when the crash happened.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer turned critic, suggested the Russian leader was behind the crash and had strengthened his authority in the process.
‘The establishment is now convinced that it will not be possible to oppose Putin,’ he wrote on Telegram. ‘Putin is strong enough and capable of revenge.’
Bill Browder, a businessman with years of experience in Russia and another Kremlin critic, agreed and said: ‘Putin never forgives and never forgets.
‘He looked like a humiliated weakling with Prigozhin running around without a care in the world (after the mutiny). This will cement his authority,’ he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
On a visit to California, USA President Joe Biden told reporters he did not know what had happened.
‘But I’m not surprised,’ Mr Biden said. ‘There is not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind.’
Soon after the crash, a second jet owned by Prigozhin that originally appeared to also be heading for St Petersburg, according to flight tracking data, landed at Ostafyevo airport near Moscow.
The second plane has also ignited theories that Prigozhin could still be alive and ‘faking his death’ as he has done once before in 2019.
But Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-appointed official in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, said he talked to Wagner commanders who confirmed that Prigozhin was aboard.
‘We have seen the reports. If confirmed, no one should be surprised,’ said US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watsont.
Keir Giles, a Russian expert with the international affairs think-tank Chatham House, has urged caution.
He said ‘multiple individuals have changed their name to Yevgeniy Prigozhin, as part of his efforts to obfuscate his travels’.
Mr Giles added: ‘Let’s not be surprised if he pops up shortly in a new video from Africa.’
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