Wagner boss Prigozhin’s plane brought down intentionally: US intelligence

Emergency specialists carry a body bag near wreckages of the private jet linked to Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at the crash site in the Tver region, Russia, August 24, 2023. (Photo/Reuters)

A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane crash that killed a mercenary leader, even as conspiracy theories swirled around the death of the Wagner group chief.

One of the US and Western officials who described the initial assessment said it determined that Yevgeny Prigozhin was “very likely” targeted and that the explosion falls in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics”.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment, did not offer any details about what caused the explosion, which was widely believed to be vengeance for the mutiny in June that posed the biggest challenge to the Russian leader’s 23-year rule. Several of Prigozhin's lieutenants were also presumed dead.

Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said press reports that a surface-to-air missile took down the plane were inaccurate. He declined to say whether the US suspected a bomb or believed the crash was an assassination.

Details of the intelligence assessment surfaced as Putin expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be aboard the jet and referred to “serious mistakes" by Prigozhin.

The jet carrying the founder of the Wagner military company and six other passengers crashed Wednesday soon after taking off from Moscow with a crew of three, according to Russia's civil aviation authority.

Rescuers found 10 bodies and Russian media cited anonymous sources in Wagner who said Prigozhin was dead. But there has been no official confirmation.

President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said he believed Putin was behind the crash, though he acknowledged that he did not have information verifying his belief.

“I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised," Biden said. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind."

Investigation underway

The passenger manifest also included Prigozhin's second-in-command, who named the group with his nom de guerre, as well as Wagner's logistics chief, a fighter wounded by US airstrikes in Syria and at least one possible bodyguard.

It was not clear why several high-ranking members of Wagner, including top leaders who are normally exceedingly careful about their security, were on the same flight. The purpose of their joint trip to St. Petersburg was unknown.

In this first comments on the crash, Putin said the passengers had “made a significant contribution” to the fighting in Ukraine.

“We remember this, we know, and we will not forget,” he said in a televised interview with the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin.

Several Russian social media channels reported that the bodies were burned or disfigured beyond recognition and would need to be identified by DNA. The reports were picked up by independent Russian media, but The Associated Press was not able to independently confirm them.

Prigozhin supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately downed.

Sergei Mironov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said on his Telegram channel that Prigozhin had “messed with too many people in Russia , Ukraine and the West.”

"It now seems that at some point, his number of enemies reached a critical point," Mironov wrote.

Russian authorities have said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

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Source: TRT