In the deadly jet accident, Wagner boss Prigozhin is mentioned as a passenger.
Yevgeny Prigozhin: Who is He?
According to Dave Lawler and Ivana Saric of Axios, Prigozhin, a former prisoner, has known Putin since the 1990s, when Prigozhin was managing a restaurant in St. Petersburg and Putin was a budding politician.
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| Yevgeny Prigozhin |
Prigozhin earned so many government contracts when Putin came to power that he earned the moniker "Putin's chef."
Soon, his interests went well beyond catering. For his part in leading the Internet Research Agency, which disseminated false material online during the 2016 presidential campaign, he was charged in the United States in 2018. He continues to be wanted by the FBI.
Since the invasion, Prigozhin has taken on the role of the group's public face and its most vehement opponent, despite years of denials to the contrary.
In the protracted and bloody struggle for Bakhmut, Prigozhin's Wagner troops played a crucial role in the war effort, but most of them have now relocated to Belarus and are apparently training soldiers there.
According to Russia's aviation watchdog, Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on the jet that crashed on Wednesday in the Russian province of Tver, killing all 10 persons on board. Representatives of the Russian government have not typically acknowledged Prigozhin's death in the event. The mercenary head organized a brief uprising in June that was seen as Vladimir Putin's strongest challenge to his rule since taking office more than 20 years ago.
Federal Air Transport Agency is looking into the crash that happened on Wednesday. The accident's origin is still a mystery.
Russian media said that the Embraer aircraft carried seven passengers and three crew members. Emergency service professionals and Russian official media claim that all 10 of the passengers' remains have been found.
Prigozhin's right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, a Wagner commander, was also identified as a traveler on the aircraft.
According to Flightradar24, a service that tracks real-time air traffic, the jet was spotted near Moscow at 2:59 p.m. (UTC) when the trip was replayed. The aircraft lost communication at a height of 28,000 feet at 3:11 PM UTC. The jet did not lose altitude prior to losing signal, according to the recording.
Russian government media said that the private jet was flying from Moscow to
St. Petersburg.
Putin was in the Kursk region.
In the past, Putin had referred to Prigozhin and his mercenary forces as traitors who would face "inevitable punishment" during the brief uprising. The mutiny was put to an end following a deal in which the head of Wagner agreed to stop his forces' march toward Moscow and go to Belarus in exchange for amnesty and specific security guarantees.
Prigozhin, though, has been observed many times in Russia after the agreement was negotiated.
A few days after spearheading the insurrection, he also met with Putin. Prigozhin stated that his goal was to defend his soldiers rather than topple the government. For months, he had a public spat with Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister, and demanded that he be fired.
Present situation: On Monday, Prigozhin made his debut appearance in a Wagner recruiting video, claiming that his organization was "making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free."
The video was uploaded to multiple Telegram accounts connected to Wagner, although its production date is unknown.
Gen. Sergei Surovikin was removed of his duties as head of the nation's aerospace forces by the Kremlin on Wednesday. Since the Wagner group's uprising in June, Surovikin, whom Prigozhin had hailed, has not been spotted in the street.
What they say is this: Adrienne Watson, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, stated that the government had "viewed the information regarding the jet accident in Russia. No one should be shocked if this is proven.
"The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now -- it would seem -- to this," she continued.
President Biden said when asked by reporters if Putin was responsible for the accident: "Putin is usually behind most things that happen in Russia. However, my knowledge is insufficient to know the solution.