The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and other leaders of the paramilitary group Wagner has been confirmed following the crash of their plane on Wednesday in Russia. This marks another opponent of Vladimir Putin who has been affected by a mysterious “incident.”
Having long been close to the Russian power, Yevgeny Prigozhin fell out of favor following the Wagner mutiny on June 23-24. This mutiny was aimed at toppling the Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoygu, due to the handling of the war in Ukraine that had shaken the Russian government.
Despite the adoption of an “amnesty” agreement between Prigozhin and Putin to quell the mutiny, which involved Prigozhin and his mercenaries being exiled to Belarus, the Wagner leader had continued to frequently travel to Russia over the past two months.
While the exact cause of Prigozhin’s plane crash is not yet known, his disappearance after returning from a trip to Mali appears to be linked to a series of settling of scores that may have targeted presumed enemies of Putin.
