Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is feared dead tonight after a plane carrying him and nine other people reportedly crashed and burst into flames in Russia.
Shocking video footage showed the plane falling from the sky in the Bologovsky district of the Tver region. Unconfirmed images showed what appeared to be covered in a fire.
The reported death came just two months after Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The standoff had been going on for months, with Prigozhin claiming he would take whatever steps are necessary to overthrow the country’s military leadership, adding that his troops had “crossed state lines” and were ready “to destroy anything.” gets in their way.”
While Prigozhin has recently been considered Putin’s number one enemy, not so long ago he was considered a close ally of the Kremlin.
The 62-year-old had made a huge fortune providing catering services for the Kremlin, earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin was once considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was nicknamed “Putin’s Chef”. Pictured: Prigozhin serving food to Putin in 2011
Tonight, the death of the Wagner boss is feared after a business jet believed to have him on board crashed in Russia’s Tver region
Russian social media linked to the state are circulating images of Yevgeny Prigozhin wearing wigs in various locations abroad
Born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, in the Soviet Union in 1961, Prigozhin spent part of his early life in prison after being convicted of robbery and fraud.
After Prigozhin was released from prison in 1990 after serving nine years, he began selling hot dogs at his hometown flea markets. He told the New York Times in 2018: “The rubles piled up faster than his mother could count them.” And when the Soviet Union fell apart, Prigozhin founded several companies.
Having worked in a grocery store, and then in a gambling shop, Prigozhin later became a restaurateur. After the success of several outlets, Prigozhin began to secure lucrative catering deals in the Kremlin with the Russian elite.
This propelled him to the forefront of Russian politics and signaled his growing ambitions.
Eventually, he became closer to Putin himself and is said to have received hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts to feed schoolchildren and government employees.
It is believed that these contracts, some of which were later associated with the military, prompted him to form the Wager mercenary group, although information on their exact origins is sparse.
Prigozhin had long denied any connection to Wagner and threatened to sue journalists covering his involvement with the group.
The group gained a reputation for doing the Russian military’s dirty work, leaving a trail of brutal violence, rape and war crimes. For years after its inception, the Russian government refused to even acknowledge the group’s existence.
Russian social media linked to the state are circulating images of Yevgeny Prigozhin wearing wigs in various locations abroad
Images released online are said to show how the jet, believed to be carrying the Russian boss, fell to the ground in the crash in the Tver region of Russia
Witnesses to the crash heard a loud bang before seeing the plane “fall out of the sky” – locals are sharing these images of the aftermath on social media, although it’s currently unconfirmed if this is the plane
Wagner’s first assignment was in 2014 on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where he supported Russian-backed separatist groups fighting the country’s new government after a 2013 revolution that toppled the pro-Kremlin president.
They have since gone to Libya – where they fought for warlord Khalifa Haftar against the Western-backed government of national unity – and to Syria, alongside dictator Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
They have also been deployed to the Central African Republic, where they have been accused of raping, robbing and torturing unarmed civilians, and are currently being deployed to Mali, where they are accused of massacres of civilians.
By June, Putin and the military met Prigozhin’s rants against the military leadership with silence. Some saw a failure to quell the infighting, a sign of possible shifts in Russia’s political scene that set the stage for more internal struggles.
A video Prigozhin released in May seemed to inflame some of the rifts between the military and militia – not only because of what it showed, but also because of what the Wagner boss said.
It was not initially known if Wagner boss Prigozhin (pictured in a video reportedly filmed in Africa and released on Monday) – known as the Wagner boss and with long-standing ties to the Kremlin dictator – was on board
It has been claimed that video showed the plane flying in the Tver region before it crashed to the ground (right).
Standing in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, he shouted profanities and insults at Shoigu and Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov. He called her weak and incompetent and blamed her for the bloodbath.
“They came here as volunteers and died to let you lounge around in your mahogany offices,” Prigozhin explained. “You sit in your expensive clubs, your kids enjoy the good life and make videos on YouTube. ‘If you don’t give us ammunition, you’ll get eaten alive in hell!’
Prigozhin continued to launch inadvertent verbal attacks on the Russian President before the conflict reached its climax on June 23 and he marched 25,000 troops towards Moscow.
After taking the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the army marched north for several hours, forcing the capital into lockdown before a deal was reached between him and the government.
The mutiny was ended through negotiations and an apparent settlement with the Kremlin, in which Prigozhin agreed to resettle in neighboring Belarus. But he still appeared to move freely within Russia after the deal.
Prigozhin, who tried to overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, only published a video speech on Monday, which he says was filmed in Africa – but the date of the recording is unknown.
Prigozhin’s public appearances in the two months since his failed coup against Putin’s regime
JUNE 23 Prigozhin announces a “March for Justice” to stop the “spreading of evil by the country’s military leadership”.
In a series of audio recordings released by the Telegram news service, he announces that his 25,000 troops will march on Moscow, adding: “Wagner’s commanders have made a decision.” This is not a military coup. It is a march for justice.”
JUNE 24 Prigozhin says his fighters captured army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don “without firing a single shot” and claims to have local support.
But that evening he suddenly announces a retreat and says on Telegram: “Now is the moment when blood could be spilled.” “We turn our convoy around.” He then disappeared from public view for almost three days.
JUNE 27 Prigozhin breaks his silence and denies that his march was a coup. He says: “Our goal was not to overthrow the existing regime, which is legitimately elected, as we have said many times.”
JULY 3 Prigozhin calls on the Russian public to stand up for the Wagner paramilitaries as the group continues to recruit troops for the war in Ukraine.
JULY 6 Selfies of Prigozhin in various wigs and disguises are released by the Russian security services in an attempt to undermine his fearsome public image.
JULY 14 A photo of Prigozhin sitting in his underpants on an unmade bed in a tent leaked online. Data accompanying the photo shows that it was taken between June 12 and 11, days before he announced the armed uprising.
JULY 19 In a video shot in a field, Prigozhin says: “What is happening at the front is a disgrace that we do not have to take part in. Therefore, it was decided that we will stay here in Belarus for some time before he “leaves to Africa”.
JULY 27 Prigozhin is photographed shaking hands with Freddy Mapouka, Chief of Protocol to the President of the Central African Republic, on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.