I bet they fall in line. Most likely the reason it took so long to get rid of Prigozhin is because Putin wanted to make sure Wagner would fall in line upon his death. He probably just recently made some back room deal to assure himself of that.
I guess a window wasn’t good enough for Prigozhin.
Utkin was operational commander and on the plane. Unclear who else was on the plane. He might have just waited to kill all of them at once. But yeah, I think Wagner themselves are neutered. They’re not the only ones though. Oligarchs that aren’t directly involved looking for refuge in the West? Possible.
The aircraft was a [Brazilian-made] Embraer ‘business jet’, as opposed to the regional ones many of us have flown in. I don’t know what model. Assuming it was a 600, it’s interesting to note that out of almost 300 built, only one – before this one – has crashed. That was a mid-air with a Boeing 737. Everyone (154 passengers) on the Boeing was killed. The Embraer was able to make it to a military airfield. The Embraer crew failed to activate TCAS, and ATC failed to warn either aircraft of the other.
The leadership yes. But Putin needs every man he can get. He wouldn’t want the thousands of rank and file mercenaries to just return to civilian life. He probably made a deal with a few guys at the colonel level (or whatever they call it in Wagner) to continue the whole thing, just minus the top guys.
A very interesting way for a plane to crash all on its own.
that’s what I call PALE!!!
the millión dollar Q:
Was it putin or the ukraines???
One of the BBC’s Russia correspondents, Will Vernon, makes an interesting observation:
Shortly after the first reports of the plane crash, Russian media swiftly established that the jet belonged to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Shortly after that, the Russian Emergencies Ministry released a statement saying all 10 people on board had been killed.
But what was incredibly fast - suspiciously so - was the speed with which Rosaviatsiya, the Russian Aviation Authority, reacted: releasing a statement confirming that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s name was on the passenger list of the aircraft.
As is usually the case in Russia, a lot of things remain unclear.
First and foremost, who exactly was on the plane: we have not yet received confirmation of whether Yevgeny Prigozhin is among the dead.
Secondly, what exactly happened – was the plane hit by air defence weapons? Was there an explosion on board?
Nevermind, hadn’t reloaded the thread.
It would be the greatest imaginable irony if this just happened to be an actual accidental plane crash, though
Secondly, what exactly happened – was the plane hit by air defence weapons? Was there an explosion on board?
I am far from an expert (i.e. not at all knowledgeable on this stuff) but looking at the video the plane seemed to drop like a rock with no control whatsoever. Unless the wings came off I don’t think planes usually crash like that from some internal mechanical failure (not including a bomb or missile in that). Maybe @LSLGuy or another of our pilots will have a better guess.
My comment in the other thread:
It was missing most of one wing on the way down. Also pretty typical aftermath of a missile hit.
The obvious question now is whether Prigo has 9 lives or only 8. As @Fiendish_Astronaut says just above, the Russian government claims the passenger manifest included Prigo. That much may well be true. But was he among the actual passengers? Certainly possible, but not certain. Yet.
Did he slip away to a secret hideaway for the rest of his long life? Or was he spirited away to the Lubyanka for the rest of his short but exceedingly unpleasant life? Or was he smashed to bits when that plane hit the ground?
One question that will probably never be answered is what the hell was he doing in Russia? I thought the whole point of the end of the mutiny was that he was exiled.
Maybe Prigozhin was on a second plane?
Grey Zone reported that a second business jet owned by Prigozhin landed safely in the Moscow region. - SOURCE
That article also says all 10 bodies have been recovered from the accident site.
Multiple sources confirm he’s dead.
I feel the same. Prigozhin was a vile man, one of the worst, and he should not be missed. That said, he seemed a thorn in Putin’s side and probably made more of a mess of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than he helped. As Napoleon said, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Given how “mediatic” that all was done …
- video - check
- passenger list - check
- bodies recouperated - check
- declared dead - check
they either want him “very dead” or pull a Mission Impossible like story …
if it’s the first one, I am fairly sure, within the next few days vids of horribly mutilated bodies will find its way into the information-space …
(Can anybody speak to why the 2nd scenario would be conducted?)
Already out there. One body, anyway, probably the pilot.
Yeah. The two things i find surprising about this news item are that he was in Russia and that his name was on a passenger manifesto for a jet.
Prigozhin was a fascist, an open war criminal and a man who waged brutal wars against civilians using convict armies who would be encouraged to terrorise, plunder and rape civilians in countries through Africa and elsewhere. He can burn in hell.
Furthermore, Putin used Wagner because he didn’t want the Russian army to have a monopoly on firepower. This way he would be safe(r) from the threat of a military coup. A classic case of divide and conquer (or divide and survive if you like). Now that 's not possible he must risk a powerful army. In a way Shoigu, the Minister of Defence, succeeded in isolating and baiting Prigozhin into doing something stupid and surrendering his power. Though Shoigu himself may not have fared too well himself.
Prigozhin was in Russia, mainly St Petersburg, for a while after the rebellion and before his recent trip to Africa.