Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead after Russia plane crash

[SVPete]

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead after Russia plane crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66599733

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed killing all on board, Russia's civil aviation authority has said.

Earlier, Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported the Embraer aircraft was shot down by air defences in the Tver region, north of Moscow.

The jet, which was flying from the capital to St Petersburg, was carrying seven passengers and three crew.

Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces in June.

Grey Zone said local residents heard two bangs before the crash and saw two vapour trails.

Tass news agency said the plane, a private Embraer Legacy, caught fire on hitting the ground, adding that four bodies had already been found.

The aircraft had been in the air for less than half an hour, it said.

What is up with the single-sentence "paragrahs"?!

Anyway lots of room for speculation here. Was Prigozhin on board? Wasn't some sort of flight plan filed, so as to notify tracking facilities on a heavily used air corridor? Did the plane do something weird that engendered suspicion (e.g. ID transponder switched off)? Was this civilian flight and its occupants known, and the shoot-down intentional?

[SVPete]

Wagner Decries 'Murder' Of Prigozhin Amid Reports Anti-Air Missile Struck Plane

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/prigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed

Update(1605ET): At this point it's looking like the entire top command of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group was aboard the private plane that was downed northwest of Moscow hours ago. Wagner itself is confirming Yvgeny Prigozhin’s death, with Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel Grey Zone calling it a "murder".

"The murder/assassination of Prigozhin will have catastrophic consequences. The people who gave the order do not understand the mood in the army and morale at all. Let this be a lesson to all. You always have to go to the end," the Wagner channel statement reads.

The bodies of Prigozhin and his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin, have reportedly been identified, according to statements which have been quick to come out of Russian media. Russian news agency TASS has also made it official: "Evgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin were on board the crashed Embraer plane, the Federal Air Transport Agency reported."

Hmmmmm ... will Wagner Group fragment and fade away? Or will things get messy for Putin? Both would be good, IMO.

[Eupher]

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead after Russia plane crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66599733

What is up with the single-sentence "paragrahs"?!

Anyway lots of room for speculation here. Was Prigozhin on board?

I read this morning he was listed on the flight manifest, along with 9 others and a few crew/pilots. All died in the crash. All bodies were found and accounted for.

Wasn't some sort of flight plan filed, so as to notify tracking facilities on a heavily used air corridor? Did the plane do something weird that engendered suspicion (e.g. ID transponder switched off)? Was this civilian flight and its occupants known, and the shoot-down intentional?

Yep, lots of questions but the nagging thought I keep coming back to is quite simple -- the plane was sabotaged to guarantee its crash. Just one way of Putin "taking care" of his potential adversaries, which is classic Russian.