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Last Updated: August 24, 2023, 08:02 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of Russian private mercenary group Wagner, gives an address in camouflage and with a weapon in his hands in a desert area at an unknown location, in this still image taken from video possibly shot in Africa and published August 21, 2023. (Reuters)
Yevgeny Prigozhin, powerful mercenary leader of Russia is presumed dead after plane crash near Moscow. Speculation surrounds his history on military dynamics
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the most powerful mercenary leader who briefly led an armed rebellion against the Russian military this year, is presumed dead after a fatal plane crash north of Moscow that killed all 10 people on board.
Prigozhin’s presence on the plane was confirmed by Russia’s civil aviation agency.
The fate of Wagner’s founder has been speculated upon since the short-lived rebellion in June, where he briefly led an armed uprising. Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin condemned the rebellion as “treason” but charges against Prigozhin were dropped, allowing him to retreat to Belarus.
Videos from the pro-Wagner Telegram channel Grey Zone depicted a plane plummeting rapidly from a dense cloud of smoke, spiraling uncontrollably as it descended. The crash follows reports of the dismissal of a top Air Force general linked to Prigozhin.
Prigozhin was a key ally of Putin, but their relationship soured after the Wagner chief, heading the country’s most powerful mercenary group, staged a failed mutiny against military leaders in June. Although the issue was resolved, defence experts believed that the episode remained a significant event that seemingly undermined Putin’s leadership amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
CIA Chief Predicted It
A month ago, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns said Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold. Addressing the Aspen Security Forum on July 20, the CIA chief had predicted that “he’s going to try to settle the situation to the extent he can.”
“But again, in my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback. So I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution for this. So in that sense, the President’s right. If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster,” he said.
According to the CIA chief, Prigozhin’s failed mutiny exposed weaknesses in both President Putin’s system and Russia’s strategy in Ukraine.
“You know a lot of fascinating episodes in Russia, but none more fascinating than Prigozhin’s mutiny, which was the most direct assault on the Russian state in Vladimir Putin’s 23 years in power. I think in many ways it exposed some of the significant weaknesses in the system that Putin has built, weaknesses that already had been laid bare by the disastrous and deeply destructive war that Putin launched 18 months ago in Ukraine,” he had said.
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