24/08/23
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was on 'plane that crashed killing all 10 on board' - but death yet to be confirmed
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was on board a plane that crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 passengers on board, Russia's Civil Aviation Authority has said.
There has been no comment from the Kremlin or Russia's defence ministry as Prigozhin's death is yet to be officially confirmed.
The crash comes two months after the Wagner mercenary boss led a short-lived munity against Russia's military top brass.
Prigozhin was described at the time by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "traitor".
The mercenary boss used to be Mr Putin's chef and was formerly a close confidant of the Russian leader.
Mr Putin has spoken publicly for the first time since the crash after delivering a speech at the BRICS summit - but he did not mention Prigozhin.
The fact the Wagner boss's death has not been confirmed and an absence of verifiable facts has led to speculation following the crash.
Many observers, and some of the Wagner boss's supporters, have said the Russian state is responsible.
It is suggested Mr Putin may have wanted to down the plane in revenge for the mutiny.
US President Joe Biden is among those who believes the Russian leader was involved.
He said: "I don't know for a fact what happened but I'm not surprised... There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind."
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Mr Putin had been "waiting for the moment" to take his revenge.
Mr Podolyak added that the Russian leader's alleged "elimination of Prigozhin" was a message to Russia's elites that "disloyalty" equals death.
One rumour circulating is that the plane was downed by a bomb in a crate of wine that was gifted to the passengers on the flight.
The claim is unverified.
Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele told Sky News: "Certainly it's an inside job, the suggestion is that it's a bomb in a wine crate.
"That's a kind of ironic end for Putin's former caterer."
Sky's military analyst Sean Bell has said footage of the plane descending to the ground with a wing missing suggests the crash was not the result of a bomb.
He said: "Generally speaking, when there is a bomb inside an aircraft it blows out, and therefore probably wouldn't take a wing off.
"Whereas a surface-to-air missile system, or an air-to-air missile system, generally tries to seek out the juiciest, meatiest part of an aircraft, and that is where the wing spar joins the main aircraft.
"That would explain why it could rip a wing off, and soon as it did that, the fate of the aircraft was sealed."
Janis Sarts, director of NATO's strategic communications centre of excellence, told Latvian television "the downing of the plane was certainly no mere coincidence".
The crash came the same day that Russian media reported that General Sergei Surovikin, a former top commander in Ukraine who was reportedly linked to Mr Prigozhin, was dismissed from his post as commander of Russia's air force.
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