In a dramatic development on Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group who previously engineered a short-lived mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin, was reportedly killed in a plane crash along with nine others in what is being speculated as Kremlin's revenge.
According to Russia's emergency situations ministry, the 13-seater Embraer (EMBR3.SA) Legacy 600 executive jet took off from Moscow for Putin's hometown, St. Petersburg. There were speculations that the plane could not be tagged "ill-fated" as it had shown "unusual descent" in the last 30 seconds before it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region.
At the same time Putin was present in Russia's southwestern Kursk region, where he was leading a ceremony in the honour of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk in World War II, and the Russian fighters leading the war in Ukraine, CNN reported.
Putin presented state awards to participants in the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, which is described as a "special military operation" by Moscow, and gave a speech at a memorial in the Ponyri village.
"The whole burden of fighting today, as in the years of the Great Patriotic War, lies primarily on our soldiers, on those who are on the front line. All our fighters fight bravely and decisively. Devotion to the Motherland, loyalty to the military oath unite all participants in the special military operation," he said during the ceremony.
The Russian President presented an award to the crew members of the Alyosha T-80 tank, which is believed to have destroyed a Ukrainian armoured convoy, according to TASS news agency. He also interacted with several residents.
What we know about the plane crash?
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency reported that Prigozhin was among the people on board the plane that crashed in the western Tver region. Flight data shows the plane reached an altitude of some 28,000 feet before it suddenly stopped transmitting tracking details. As per Flightradar24, there was "no indication that there was anything wrong with the aircraft" before it witnessed a dramatic drop.
"After levelling off at 28,000 feet at 15:10 UTC, the aircraft continued in level flight at consistent speed until 15:19 UTC at which point the vertical rate decreased dramatically and the aircraft descended briefly before climbing to a maximum altitude of 30,100 feet before descending back to roughly 27,500 feet," according to Flightradar24.
"It again climbs, reaching 29,300 feet before levelling off once again. It then descends, with the final data received at 15:20:14 UTC at an altitude of 19,725 feet. The altitude graph below shows the final 32 seconds of received altitude data," it noted.
As of now, it wasn't clear what led to the crash, but multiple media reports claimed it could be possible that the jet was shot from the ground. Russia, without elaborating the details of the crash, said it has opened a criminal case and is currently investigating the fatal crash.
Reactions after the crash
US President Joe Biden hinted that Putin was behind the crash that claimed the life of the Wagner group chief. "You may recall, I was asked about this (in July)... I said I would be careful what I rode in. I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised," he told CNN.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Prigozhin had "signed a death warrant for himself", adding that his elimination shows that the Russian President does not forgive anyone "for his own bestial terror".
However, people gathered in St. Petersburg on Wednesday night to pay tribute to the Wagner leader. A video on social media shows a large banner reading "Wagner PMC. We are together" on the the company's headquarters. Locals also placed flowers, lit candles, and left Wagner PMC chevron patches near the entrance.
Kremlin's revenge?
Amid various speculations, Putin has so far remained silent while addressing the BRICS summit in Johannesburg virtually on Thursday without mentioning the crash. Supporters of Prigozhin have said that the plane was deliberately shot down by an air defense missile or a bomb on board the aircraft.
Several Putin opponents and critics have been killed, gravely sickened in apparent assassination attempts or imprisoned, and many Western officials long expected the Russian leader to go after Prigozhin after the mutiny in June. The Kremlin had agreed to drop charges against the mercenary group after the mutiny was called off.
The plane crash also came shortly after General Sergei Surovikin, who was said to be linked to Prigozhin, was dismissed from his post as commander of Russia’s air force.
“The downing of the plane was certainly no mere coincidence,” said Janis Sarts, director of NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
(with inputs from agencies)
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