This could be a new phase in the Ukraine/Russian war. Certainly it sends a message to the world about Vladimir Putin. People predicted when Wagner began to function in Ukraine that Yevgeny Prighozin would be dead within six months. Maybe Vladimir Putin is like Donald Trump in one regard, that of being predictable. Reuters:
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private jet which crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday, the TASS news agency reported, citing Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation authority.
“An investigation has been launched into the Embraer plane crash that occurred tonight in the Tver region. According to the passenger list, among them is the name and surname of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Rosaviatsia said.
Earlier TASS had reported that ten people had died after a private jet crashed in Russia’s Tver region north of Moscow. The jet, en route from Moscow to St Petersburg, was carrying seven passengers and three crew.
The end of this phase of the Prigozhin story. With Wagner sources hinting the plane was shot down a new phase might begin. pic.twitter.com/cDJrcmxys2
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) August 23, 2023
he was hanging at the Africa conference a few weeks ago like nothing had happened. apparently Putin wanted to orchestrate a spectacle to send a message.. to the other ‘Prigozhins’ out there. so, clearly, they’re out there
— Ian S. Patton (@ispatton) August 23, 2023
Proghozin made Putin look weak and Putin hated him for it. This is what happens to people Putin hates. Here’s some biographical data on Proghozin. Guardian:
The man who raised a force against Moscow is a former convict and hotdog seller, notorious for his ruthlessness, violence and cruelty.
Born in St Petersburg in 1961, he went to a sporting academy but fell in with petty criminals. Convicted of several violent robberies in 1980, he spent most of his 20s in jail.
Released in 1990 as the Soviet Union was in its death throes, he made his first modest fortune with a fast food stand, but soon had a stake in a supermarket chain, one of the best restaurants in his home city, and the ear and trust of powerful figures, including one Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin spent more than a decade doing the catering for high-profile official events – photos show him serving Prince Charles and George Bush among others – and building up oligarch levels of wealth through government catering contracts and other deals.
The seeds of the current insurrection were sown nearly a decade ago when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and sent proxy forces into eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin then founded the Wagner mercenary group, which gave Putin a tool for more active military intervention and some degree of plausible deniability.
Prigozhin also set up an army of keyboard trolls, and was indicted in the US for interfering – through his digital warriors – in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.
Until last year, Prigozhin sued journalists who linked him to these activities, and insisted he only worked in catering and hospitality.
Then he went into the mercenary business and later rebelled against Putin in Ukraine. However, he didn’t have the strength to stand up forever to the Russian army. But Proghozin made a statement. And now Putin has made one, too.
A couple thoughts
I would have thought that Prigozhin would have some sort of poison pill that would protect him. Maybe something comes out in the next week or so that hurts putin.
Also how loyal are the Wagner people. Is there a hit squad out there ready to try to assassinate putin out of loyalty?
Finally, I won’t miss this guy. Hopefully African nations can stabilize without Wagner interference
Well, I gave him a month and he lasted 50 days so he did pretty good.
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/ra-02795#
This is the Embraer Legacy that Prighozin has been using for his trips in and out of St. Petersburg. This flight seems to terminate abnormally at 28,000 ft.
Anyone want to bet how long it takes the rwnj apparatus to spin this as another “hit” by the “Clintons”?
Surprised, I am not. Skeptical, I am.
Hey tubby…are YOU SURE you want to fly to rooski? I thought balconies would be more dangerous but I guess pootie likes to give his boys target practice. You wouldn’t be hard to spot. Bon Voyage A$$hole. Rest In Hell…R.I.H.
Live by the sword. Die by the sword. Next!
How long before someone tries to “off” Putin now?
It’s going to be a long, long time before I accept this p.o.s. is really dead. Don’t be all that surprised if in the months ahead he shows up alive and well, say down in Africa where he’s going to be much better protected. I need to look again at some video I saw earlier but it seemed to me like the tail of that jet was gone which would indicate something more like a well-designed bomb(s) than a missile strike. I find it hard to believe Prighozin wouldn’t have enough intel to know what was up and slipped out and made his way out of Moscow incognito. Getting out of the country would be trickier. But he’s cunning enough to have made plans in case Putin did decide to murder him.
Here’s the other thing that makes me skeptical. This plane nose dived into a fireball of a crash with plenty of fuel left in the tanks. Identifying remains is at best quite challenging in such a situation and sometimes there’s simply no way to do so. If Putin wanted to make a statement he would have (I think) made execution of Prighozin much more public – in a place with enough people with cell phones would be taking and posting videos of his body in a pool of blood but identifiable. Witnesses. Someone suggested in another comment maybe Prighozin had something on Putin and Pootie made a deal – fake his death and simple go away to some remote island paradise with all the money he’d need to live lavishly the rest of his days.
Bingo. This Prigozhin guy has multiple people using his name and going all kinds of places just so nobody knows where the f*ck the little weasel is. All of the sudden he takes a plane not only over russia but damned near over moscow? Are you f*cking kidding me? Until there is verifiable forensic evidence, IF there is any verifiable forensic evidence, I’d say he’s still out there and maybe he’ll get to live a few more months. Until putie finds out he’s not quite dead yet. And like you say denis, putie’s M.O.’s are poison and pushing people out of windows of multi-story buildings, he doesn’t give a f*ck who knows he’s a murdering p.o.s. What I do disagree with is the thought that putie and Prigozhin made some sort of deal because Prigozhin has the goods on putie: he’d NEVER let Prigozhin go free because he would always be looking over his shoulder wondering if Prigozhin will live up to his part of the bargain.
What bothers me about all this is a plane went down, presumably with crew and passengers. It would not surprise me one bit if this was planned in an attempt to deflect putie’s attention from Prigozhin . Ok, but what about the people on the plane? I find it hard to believe his mercenaries would volunteer for this one-way ticket and if it wasn’t volunteers, then we have innocent people being murdered.
Check out the reports published online regarding a stewardess on the doomed flight contacting a family member about the flight’s delayed takeoff due to a crew making unspecified “repairs”…..
“Boss – we can’t get the window to open – so what can we do now???”
Obviously, Putin didn’t think a third-floor window was high enough for this guy. Loftier ideals and all that crap!