Russian President Vladimir Putin has lastly bid adieu to his bittersweet ‘buddy’ Yevgeny Prigozhin by addressing him as a “talented person” who “made serious mistakes in life”. From the second the information broke of the aircraft carrying the mercenary head plummeting, there have been speculations about whether or not Prigozhin was certainly on board the plane and what really precipitated the lethal crash.
Adding extra to the chaos and controversy theories is Prigozhin’s historical past of staging his personal demise in 2019. Furthermore, a personal jet belonging to Prigozhin landed in Moscow the identical day that the aircraft which reportedly carried the Wagner chief crashed.
The Crash
While on its approach again from the sand dunes of Africa to their ‘cold’ homeland, an Embraer-600 legacy jet (RA-02795) carrying main army leaders linked to Wagner – Prigozhin and Utkin, was met with a “not-so-unexpected” destiny on Wednesday. After the ADS-B sign broadcast was lower off at 18:20, the aircraft tumbled from the sky and a sound of explosion was heard two instances, abandoning charred our bodies of the passengers onboard. Shortly after the crash, the Russian Aviation Agency launched an inventory of passengers, practically all of whom had ties with Wagner.
RA-02795 stored sending indicators till 18:20, quickly after which it plummeted to the bottom. (Source: FlightRadar24)
Of curiosity in the identical context was one other non-public jet owned by Prigozhin (RA-02748), which took off from St Petersburg the identical day to succeed in Moscow. Meanwhile, on Russian tv, Putin was busy presenting the “Hero of Russia” awards, which Prigozhin had acquired as soon as from his ‘master’.
Long because the mutiny in opposition to the Russian army management in June, the Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin had not posted any media which might have leaked his whereabouts till not too long ago, from the Sahel area of Africa for Wagner recruitment. In the video, he boasted about how his troops are serving to Africa free itself from ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s atrocities and that he’ll proceed offering help to Russia within the area.
The Wagner chief was additionally seen shaking arms with Central African Republic (CAR) Ambassador Freddy Mapouka a month in the past in St Petersburg throughout the Russia-Africa Summit.
India Today’s OSINT workforce scans by the pages of historical past to analyse the 2 doable situations within the present context of Prigozhin’s demise.
Scenario 1: The Wagner chief is useless
As analysed by the jet downing footage, the vapours seen seem like from a missile strike. Further, because the aircraft descends to the bottom, smoke will be seen together with damaged wings, which was additionally obvious within the particles.
BBC journalist Andrey Zakharov notes that Prigozhin, together with the Wagner management, certainly arrived in Russia from Africa on Wednesday. And that it could be a “miracle” if he have been current within the alternate jet, as per his sources. Grey Zone, which has shut contacts with Wagner, additionally confirmed Prigozhin’s demise in a Telegram put up.
What one would discover intriguing close to the crash website, is Putin’s residence situated 45 kilometres away, often known as “Uzhin Holiday House”, which he had as soon as used as a hideout to suppress opposition. Further, the Khotilovo army airbase, which is dwelling to the 790th Fighter Aviation Regiment, is simply round 14 km away from the placement.
Initially, Putin had handled the Wagner chief who rebelled in opposition to him extra softly than he would a median dissenter. In one occasion, Putin not directly referred to Prigozhin and stated struggle results in bewilderment for even the best minds. He even allowed the warlord to go to Russia in what’s seen as a ploy to let the latter’s guard down.
If, as speculations are true about Putin’s involvement in Prigozhin’s demise, the Russian President’s motive can be to take care of a way of worry among the many populace, to have a greater grip over Wagner, and to attain monopoly within the African area.
Meanwhile, there have additionally been reviews of a ‘secret alternate plan’ concocted by Prigozhin within the occasion of him dying. How this secret plan can be carried out by the Wagner troops stays a thriller.
On the opposite hand, the Russian Armed Forces have already begun transporting the exiled Wagner troops from the Tsel area of Belarus to Russia through army plane.
Scenario 2: “Death is not the end” performed out once more
Putin is thought for finishing up his missions surreptitiously, and this high quality of his doesn’t appear to suit the aircraft crash as locals additionally witnessed the incident. If he deliberate for folks to witness the incident, his motive might have been to ship out a message that no person ought to dare disobey his instructions.
On the opposite hand, Prigozhin has recognized Putin carefully and is nicely conscious of the ways he utilises to throttle dissenters. He would by no means danger all the management to be on the identical aircraft. He can also be standard for masking his id and ‘faking’ his demise, as was the case throughout the 2019 An-72 transport aircraft crash in Congo. Three days after the crash, Prigozhin had posted a video saying “death is not the end” and “we all go to hell”.
He would additionally usually ship people with the identical identify as him to board his flight, so as to keep away from being in his adversary’s goal vary.
According to the media firm The Drive, proper after the mutiny, the Wagner chief already had plans in place to cover his id, which apparently concerned a closet filled with wigs.
Edited By:
chingkheinganbi mayengbam
Published On:
Aug 25, 2023
