To some, it was remarkable in itself that Yevgeny Prigozhin had lasted so long after his failed mutiny against the Kremlin two months ago.
After images of him riding triumphantly through Rostov-on-Don, some 900 kilometers from Moscow, caught the world’s attention, this complex figure appears to have met his end at the hands of the man whose authority he challenged.
So how much closer are we to understanding exactly what happened in his final hours?
Witnesses to the crash heard a loud bang before seeing the plane ‘fall out of the sky’ – locals on social media shared this footage of the aftermath
A Russian soldier inspects part of a crashed private jet near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region
Rebellion that shook the world
On the night of Saturday, June 24, a smiling Yevgeny Prigozhin waved to his adoring supporters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The creepy, shaved-headed 62-year-old was an unlikely folk hero, but after leading an albeit brief uprising against the Kremlin, he had the mob in the palm of his hand.
This moment on a sultry summer evening turned out to be his apotheosis. The former convict had been given an unlikely opportunity to command arguably the world’s leading Private Military Company (PMC), Wagner.
He had also made a very generous deal with Vladimir Putin, a settlement that made the irate president look weaker than at any time in his 20 years in power.
His only punishment for leading an uprising that threatened to plunge Russia into civil war would be political exile in Belarus. To Western intelligence analysts, it seemed too good to be true.
The African Summit
Rarely seen in Belarus, Prigozhin joined President Putin and African political leaders at a summit in his home city of St Petersburg on July 28.
To the outside world, it appeared that the outspoken warlord had made peace with Putin and was being welcomed back into the political circle.
Dressed casually and looking rested, he was photographed socializing with presidents and prime ministers who have willfully traded their country’s natural resources for Wagner’s political services and patronage. Prigozhin was in his element.
The last video
After several weeks of keeping a low profile, Prigozhin appeared again on Tuesday in a Wagner promotional video filmed in North Africa.
Posing in his military gear, including a rather ridiculous camouflage sun hat, and holding an assault rifle, he boasted how his PMC improved security on the continent and made life a nightmare for IS and Al Qaeda.
People carry a body bag from the wreckage of a crashed private jet, near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region, Russia, on August 24
Flight attendant Kristina Raspopova, killed on August 23 aboard Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet
Everything seemed right in his world. While he was under investigation for alleged corruption, it didn’t seem to matter since he was brandishing such a powerful weapon, wearing body armor and carrying spare magazines bursting with 7.62mm bullets. By all accounts, Prigozhin seemed like the itinerant warlord, the man who had turned his nose at the Kremlin and, remarkably, got away with it.
Apparently he was too influential even for his ruthless old adversary Vladimir Putin.
The fatal flight
Prigozhin and other leading members of Wagner, including PMC co-founder his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, 53, flew back to Russia that evening.
They were joined by Valery Chekalov, 47, a veteran of the Ukraine campaign; Sergei Propustin, 44, who fought alongside Prigozhin at the Battle of Bakhmut; and two other mercenaries, Alexander Totmin, 30, and Yevgeniy Makaryan, who took part in Wagner’s brutal crackdown on the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Their bodyguards were also in tow.
On Wednesday, their last flight, from Moscow to Prigozhin’s home city of St. Petersburg, was delayed, apparently due to mechanical problems with their Embraer Legacy private jet.
With time to spare, flight attendant Kristina Raspopova, 39, swiped her smartphone and opened her Facebook page.
She posted a photo of her airport meal, white bread, pate and butter, telling relatives the plane was being “repaired.”
With time to spare, flight attendant Raspopova, 39, swiped her smartphone and opened her Facebook page
Whatever the cause, just after 6pm local time, the plane was spotted over the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, north of the Russian capital. The engines were on fire and one of its wings was seriously damaged
A relative said, “She said she was in Moscow. The aircraft was undergoing maintenance or urgent repairs were needed. It seemed like she had been there for a while. That’s at least a few days.
“They were waiting for the order to take off.”
Apparently, the issues that delayed their departure had been rectified, and on Wednesday afternoon, the luxury plane climbed for 12 minutes after takeoff, eventually reaching an altitude of 28,000 feet.
Suddenly it disappeared from the radar. What happened next remains unconfirmed.
Either the plane was destroyed by an explosive device hidden on board, or it was the target of a surface-to-air missile. Smoke trails seen by eyewitnesses point to the latter, but US intelligence officials yesterday cast doubt on that theory.
Whatever the cause, it was spotted just after 6pm local time over the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, north of the Russian capital.
The engines were on fire and one of its wings was seriously damaged. Then, to the horror of bystanders below who were filming the incident, the plane dived toward the ground, crashing in a ball of flame. Within 30 seconds the plane had descended more than 2,000 meters.
All ten people on board were found dead at the scene.
The second flight
About ten minutes after the crash, a second Embraer Legacy 650, also chartered by Wagner, landed safely in Saint Petersburg. It was on a similar flight path to the stricken aircraft.
This led to speculation that Prigozhin may have survived the assassination attempt by flying the other plane.
However, it was not to be. The killer’s selection of the correct aircraft indicated prior knowledge of the Wagner chief’s travel plans, which had often been changed at the last minute for security reasons.
The Russian Commission of Inquiry released a photo of the alleged crash site on Wednesday after the fire was extinguished
The Wagner headquarters in St. Petersburg appeared illuminated in the shape of a cross
Western intelligence assessments
US and other Western officials said preliminary intelligence reports led them to believe an onboard explosion brought down the plane.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it may be some time before Western intelligence agencies can say with absolute certainty that Prigozhin was on board.
Russian investigators plan to question a pilot as evidence suggests the private jet was blown up by a bomb hidden near the toilet.
Baza, a channel on the Russian social media app Telegram with links to the country’s security services, reported that Artyom Stepanov is wanted and may have had access to the plane before it embarked on its final flight.
But the development was viewed with skepticism by Western officials.
The West believes that Putin is most likely responsible for the deaths of Prigozhin and key lieutenants. US President Joe Biden said yesterday: “Not much is happening in Russia that Putin doesn’t support.”
The bomb theory and the release of Mr. Stepanov’s name may be an attempt by the Kremlin to put some distance between itself and the claims of a state-sponsored assassination.