Behind the Death of Russian Mercenary Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin
Wagner Chief's Fate Has Been Doomed Since His June Rebellion
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🗞 WAGNER CHIEF PRIGOZHIN CONFIRMED DEAD
Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been confirmed dead after DNA exams of the bodies from last week’s plane crash, Russian officials said Sunday.
Officials say "the identities of all 10 dead…correspond to the list stated in the flight sheet" of the aircraft. It went down Wednesday north of Moscow several minutes after takeoff. Aboard: Prigozhin and some of his most senior, trusted lieutenants.
Long story short: We will probably never know exactly what happened, but two months to the day after Prigozhin’s failed mutiny against President Vladimir Putin— most of the evidence indicates something orchestrated by the Kremlin.
AN ACT OF VENGEANCE?
Rewind to June: You’ll remember Prigozhin as the hot dog vendor turned Kremlin caterer turned ruthless Putin ally. Years into their close relationship, Prighozhin led a 36-hour rebellion on June 23 attempting to topple Russia’s military leadership. His Wagner mercenary group (named after Hitler’s favorite composer) captured a military command HQ, several towns, killed more than a dozen Russian soldiers and rolled their tanks to within 125 miles of Moscow.
Putin vowed punishment for those behind the rebellion. But, to end further embarrassment and ensure the war effort in Ukraine would not be hurt, he cut a quick deal with Prigozhin that allowed him to reside in neighboring Belarus without facing any charges.
Since then, questions remained over whether Putin would really let the man behind the uprising off the hook that easily. Putin is notoriously merciless when it comes to defending his grip on power.
Here is a list of prominent critics Putin is suspected of killing in the last 20 years.
Now, fast forward to Wednesday, two months to the day that the Wagner Group launched a rebellion against Russia’s military: Prigozhin’s business jet — carrying many of the Wagner group’s top lieutenants — plummeted from the sky and crashed, killing all 10 on board.
The timing of the crash is raising suspicion over whether it could have been orchestrated by Russia, with Putin as its architect, as an act of vengeance. The Kremlin is denying those claims.
RUSSIAN MILITARY, MEET THE WAGNER GROUP
Almost immediately after the crash, before even giving public remarks, Putin issued an order to combine the Wagner Group (ruthless fighters credited with some of the most significant victories in Ukraine) under the Russian military. He ordered Wagner Group mercenaries to sign an oath of allegiance to Russia — something he wanted all along, but Prigozhin was standing in the way of.
Putin gave his first remarks about 24 hours after the crash. He described Prigozhin as a “talented man” who was loyal but also made “serious mistakes.” Emphasis on the last point.
THE CAUSE: WHAT US OFFICIALS THINK
U.S. defense officials rejected initial theories that a missile shot down the plane — suggesting instead that an intentional explosion (possibly from inside the plane, like a planted bomb) caused the plane to go down.
One Western official said the Pentagon’s assessment determined Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted, and that an explosion would be in line with Putin’s long history of trying to silence his critics.
A REMINDER: PUTIN’S DISAPPEARING RIVALS
As we mentioned above, this wouldn't be the first instance of someone who died under suspicious circumstances after crossing Putin.
2015: Boris Nemtsov, who led massive protests of the 2011 parliamentary election results and wrote reports about corruption
2013: Boris Berezovsky, who accused the Kremlin of killing a former intelligence officer and whistleblower
2009: Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, a human rights lawyer and a journalist critical of Putin, respectively
2009: Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered evidence suggesting Russian police officials were behind a massive tax fraud case
2009: Natalia Estemirova, a journalist investigating increasing abductions and murders in Chechnya, a republic of Russia
2006: Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian reporter who accused Putin of turning the country into a police state
2006: Alexander Litvinenko, a vocal critic of the Russian Federal Security Service after leaving the agency, which was run by Putin
2003: Sergei Yushenkov, a former army colonel who was gathering evidence he believed proved Putin’s government was behind one of the apartment bombings in 1999
✔︎ Mo News Reality Check: Putin is not someone who takes kindly to being publicly embarrassed—and most suspected that it was not a matter of if, but when, Prigozhin would get his punishment.
As we mentioned, dozens of Putin’s critics have been imprisoned, poisoned, or suddenly have fallen out of windows in recent years.
A plane crash is a new one, although clearly Putin— or any of Prigozhin’s enemies within the Russian military leadership— is trying to send a message here. No matter what you may have done for the Kremlin, and how loyal you may be, if you ignore warnings and try to fly too close to the sun, you will literally fall out of the sky. Prigozhin aka Icarus.
Prigozhin’s second-in-command, as well as the mastermind behind the Wagner Group’s logistics, were also killed in the crash, a decapitation strike that fulfills Kremlin goals of finally bringing the mercenary unit under full control.
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🗓 ON THIS DAY: AUGUST 28
1963: About 200,000 people marched on Washington DC, a high point of the civil rights movement, especially remembered for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
1968: Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago culminates in the so-called Battle of Michigan Avenue, a violent confrontation between demonstrators and police.
1990: LL Cool J released his ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ album.
1996: The 15-year marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, ended as a final divorce decree was issued.