2023-08-24 18:33:45
US officials and other Western authorities said preliminary intelligence reports led them to the conclusion that an explosion inside the plane linked to Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin likely brought down the plane on Wednesday, killing all 10 people. who were on board.
Although there has been no official confirmation that Prigozhin died, Russian President Vladimir Putin made some first remarks about the disaster on Thursday and spoke indirectly of his death, referring to him in the past tense. “He made some serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved necessary results,” Putin said in a televised meeting.
Prigozhin founded and led the private military group Wagner, which made major battlefield gains in Ukraine before staging a brief rebellion against Russia’s military leadership in June. The riot was one of the most dramatic challenges Putin’s government has faced in decades, and Prigozhin’s betrayal was seen by many analysts as tantamount to a death sentence.
Putin’s remarks came after a slew of reports claimed Prigozhin was dead, with at least one Western intelligence official, several Russian military bloggers and a Telegram account linked to Wagner saying he had been killed. However, Prigozhin’s mercenary group Wagner has not officially confirmed his death.
US and Western officials who asserted that the leading theory of the disaster was an explosion warned that the detonation could have been caused by a bomb or other device planted on the plane, although other possibilities, such as the use of adulterated fuel, were also being explored.
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A senior Western intelligence official, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information, said Wagner’s leader was on board the plane that crashed, citing “many indicators” his government had analyzed. US authorities say US intelligence has not confirmed Prigozhin’s death, although several officials said it seems likely that he died in the plane crash.
The Legacy 600 private plane believed to have Prigozhin on board was flying at a constant speed and altitude until it crashed abruptly, according to flight tracking data. Embraer, the Brazilian manufacturer of the aircraft, reported that it had stopped servicing the plane since 2019 due to sanctions. Typically, that support is largely related to maintenance.
A passenger manifest released by Russian civil aviation authorities on Wednesday listed Prigozhin’s name and that of Wagner’s top commander, Dmitri Utkin, among the seven passengers and three crew members on board.
Russian state media have not covered the Prigozhin news much, instead focusing attention on the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, where Putin delivered a short video address welcoming the new members of the group of emerging economies.
Russia stated that during the night Ukraine launched more drones into its territory, which, three in total, it claimed to have shot down. Two were intercepted in the Briansk region, which shares a border with Ukraine, and one in the Kaluga region, which is closer to Moscow, announced the Ministry of Defense of Russia. In recent days, there have been drones that have arrived in Moscow and have affected air traffic in and around the capital.
Helene Cooper and Paul Sonne contributed reporting.
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