Is Prigozhin Dead? Accident, Assassination or Psy-Op?
Plane crashes between Moscow and St Petersburg, killing 10.
ONE-MAN FOG OF WAR
"As with everything in Russia, you can’t be certain of anything. Everything is as clear as mud." - Dimitri Alperovitch (Chairman Silverado Policy Accelerator)
Yesterday, I linked to a video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the colourful leader of the Wagner mercenaries, saying hello from Africa on Monday. Two days later, his plane crashed during a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg, killing all 10 aboard. As with many actions involving Prigozhin, there are questions in opposite directions. He’s a one-man fog of war.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Here’s the notification from TASS, Russia’s main news agency.
MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport has launched an investigation into the crash of the Embraer plane in the Tver Region on Wednesday, the agency said noting that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the passengers.
"An investigation into the Embraer plane crash that occurred in the Tver Region this evening has been launched. According to the passenger list, the first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list," the agency noted.
The Embraer business jet crashed in the Tver Region near the settlement of Kuzhenkino. According to preliminary data, all 10 people on board the plane have died. The plane was en route from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport to St. Petersburg.
It is alleged that there was a flash on the ground, and that the plane climbed erratically to 30,000 feet before plummeting, minus one wing and tail.
The plane was carrying 10 people, 3 crew and 7 passengers which included Dmitry Utkin, Wagner’s group commander. 8 bodies have been recovered so far, but remain unidentified.
Embraer Legacy jets are highly reliable. There was only one crash the past two decades, the result of pilot error.
POSSIBLE ROUTES TO DEATH
Why and how did Prigozhin die? Speculation is rife:
Mechanical failure?
Explosion on plane?
Air defence missile mistake?
Assassinated by Putin?
Assassinated by CIA/Ukraine?
The most logical answer is that the jet was shot down by Russia’s air defence system. Considering drone attacks on Moscow, that could be an accident, or the perfect excuse for murder.
In contrast, a popular option is that Prigozhin’s alive, and that this is another Russian psy-op meant to keep the West confused.
DID PUTIN KILL PRIGOZHIN?
Putin was once asked if he was able to forgive. He said yes, everything except betrayal.
Prigozhin was the instigator of the mutiny in Russia in June this year. Bizarrely, he went unpunished, met Putin, and then his Wagners set up camp in Belarus. Whether it was a real or fake coup (designed to expose traitors) has been vigorously debated without answer.
In response to Prigozhin’s march on Moscow, Putin made the following threat.
“I repeat: any internal mutiny is a deadly threat to our state, to us as a nation. It’s a blow against Russia, against our people. And our actions to defend the fatherland from such a threat will be brutal.
Anyone who consciously went on the path of betrayal, who prepared the armed mutiny, went on the path of blackmail and terrorist actions, will be punished inevitably. They will answer before the law and our people…
Those who organised and prepared the military mutiny, who turned weapons against their comrades-in-arms, have betrayed Russia, and will be held accountable for that.”
Larry Johnson, a geopolitical analyst, doubts that version of events.
“I am skeptical of the claims that Putin ordered this. For starters Putin was officiating at the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. I find it hard to believe that Putin would distract from that event by giving the green light to execute Prigozhin in this manner. This does not serve Putin’s interest because the downing of the plane also killed pilots and other passengers not implicated in Prigozhin’s mutiny. If Putin wanted to kill Prigozhin he would have ordered it sooner and done so in a much less messy way.”
Putin, coincidentally or intentionally, was speaking about revenge at that commemoration in Kursk.
“This amazing Battle of Kursk memorial is unveiled in honour of the achievement here, in the village of Ponyri. The significance of the victory in this landmark battle cannot be overestimated: it destroyed and eliminated the striking power of the Nazis, marking a turning point in the Second World War. This was where Hitler was planning to take revenge for the defeat in Stalingrad, believing that his tank divisions and Waffen-SS troops would force a breakthrough and then roll to the east. Instead, they encountered the unbending stamina and valour of our soldiers and commanders, battle-hardened fighters of the Red Army – and the Nazi onslaught failed.”
VIDEOS
Credit to Simplicius76’s Bitchute channel for the header video.
Here are media reactions from Germany, Australia, the UK and USA: