Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed killing all on board, Russia’s civil aviation authority has said. Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone reported that the private plane, which belonged to the 62-year-old, was shot down by air defenses.
Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against the Russian armed forces in June.
The downed plane also had several other top leaders of the Wagner Group including the co-founder.
The crash comes on the same day that senior Russian general Sergei Surovikin was reportedly sacked as air force chief.
General Surovikin was known to have good relations with Prigozhin and had not been seen in public since the mutiny.
It would appear that Russian President Putin has settled all family business.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
He can’t rev things up, he can’t give up. So he has to squash anyone that pushes him either way. Perhaps he just hopes to keep it status quo until he can die a natural death (or finds a way to retire while keeping his head and his stolen wealth–unlikely that he can).
In truth, he has managed that status quo trick longer that many of us thought he could, but the seams are starting to rip. Between the hardfighting Ukrainians, the incredible support from much of the rest of the world, the sanctions, the economy, the second and third-rate weapon systems, the brain drain, the equipment losses, the inadequate industrial capability, his own incompetence and corruption, the incompetence and corruption of his toadies, the incompetence and corruption of his military, and the bewildered, unfit, untrained, and unequipped conscripts it doesn’t seem too likely he will make it to his own next election, let alone to one in the US in late 2024.
And trying to hold out that long ensures he will so overextend himself that when things do come unstuck, it will happen very quickly and there will be nothing left to prevent it. As someone else noted, the Russian Federation, divided in half a dozen or more new countries, could someday be a really nice place–although the mindset I see in the war supporters and the behavior of the military suggests that might be a few generations away.
Also, shooting down one of his own planes seems wasteful. He has fewer of them in flyable condition almost every day.
And I agree, even Putler is better where he is than having Prigo takeover. Hopefully that guy with the skull head and the Nazi tattoos all over who was number 2 in Wagner was also on the same flight.
He won’t be missed.
Prigozhin was poor at history, if you try and topple a King you must win and kill them, you can`t stop half way, history is littered with people who tried. and came to `understanding` with said king, few survived very long … As G.R.Martin said when you play the game of thrones you either win or die.
Indeed, that was my reaction when he called off his coup. Who does that, and expects to survive?
The only interesting prospect here is if he faked his death in order to escape that fate. And, seriously, the fact that he DID stop halfway through the coup suggests that he didn’t have sense enough.
Like you said before Brett, if it were written fiction, you would have put the book down long ago.
The point is that nobody actually knows what happened, who was involved (nations, intelligence agencies, etc.).
There is no reason to expect clarity or transparency here.
None of that coup attempt made sense, and you cannot take any report at face value. Best you can do is notice strangeness, and keep on noticing. Things that make you go hmmm.
Cause of death…heart failure..
of course.
Putin finally does something productive. I hope that “no good deed goes unpunished” applies here since Wagner survivors should be pretty upset. Hopefully upset enough to make at least a bit of noise. I hope Wagner’s big wigs can keep Putin’s seat warm for him in Hell.
Or he staged his own death to try and escape the inevitable.
I liked Ycvgenhy,Ukrainians respected the Wagner group’s they are the only ones to take land. I like Putin as well, he could be under as mile of radioactive ruble, but we know he will NEVER use nukes. And he is a terrifically bad war leader.
Unfortunately we have a leader in Joe Biden.with absolute control over the European military response, it is OK just to have one man in command,Eisenhower was supreme allied command, yet Joe(who I voted for),is pathetically weak,or I should say strong,in his support of his BFF Vlad.
I can not recall a leader going back to all recorded history was such an ally of our enemy and an enemy of our people and our allies.
In the end,Yevgenhy deserved what he got, once you start on the road to Moscow,you cannot change you mind midstream.
Russia will be a charming place when it is divided into twelve independent nations.
He died of natural causes. It is so natural to die of you piss off Putin
«…πάντες γὰρ οἱ λαβόντες μάχαιραν ἐν μαχαίρῃ ἀπολοῦνται.»
People were expecting fall from a window or balcony, poisoning, car accident, “suicide”,…
They surprised us with their method – air defense.
This surprises no one.