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Wagner Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin Among Dead in Jet Crash
All ten passengers perished.
Developing-
The Russian federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya confirmed today that an Embraer business jet crashed Wednesday in the Tver Region of Russia.
The aircraft was flying between Moscow and St. Petersburg when it crashed. Prigozhin has been listed as one of the victims.
Like a plot twist straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, a private military company led by Prigozhin launched a coup in June against the conventional Russian military, even going so far as killing Russian soldiers and shooting down six Russian helicopters and one aircraft.
When I wrote on June 26 about the Wagner coup attempt, I said these exact words:
“Let’s face it, whether Prigozhin is in Belarus or Russia, he is a dead man walking. Do you believe Putin would allow this type of national humiliation without any consequences? No, I don’t believe so . . . he will have Prigozhin accidentally fall out of a Belarussian high-rise window.”
Okay, so I missed the mark about Prigozhin falling out of a high-rise window, but c’mon — pretty close, right?
The real question now is how will Wagner respond now that their leader has been murdered in an “accident”?
Revenge is a powerful motive.
Might Wagner organize another coup against Putin?
While short-lived, Prigozhin led the biggest challenge to Putin’s authority since the dictator took over more than two decades ago.
More as this story develops.
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