The death of a rebel. Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed three years ago

The Tragic End of Rebel Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin: Three Years Ago

Three years ago, Yevgeny Prigozhin passed away. Known during the war as "Putin's Chef," Prigozhin had become one of the most famous figures in Russia. His popularity among war supporters would have been the envy of any military commander, even President Putin. After all, when Prigozhin captured an entire city with his private army, he was greeted with applause in the streets. The founder of Wagner, Gerasimov and Shoigu, had no problem breaking into the headquarters where the war was being led, giving orders to the generals, and filming it all.

The march, dubbed the "March of Justice," was halted as Wagner fighters approached Moscow. As a result of negotiations brokered by Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to withdraw his army to Belarus. But in the end, the rebellion against Putin ended tragically for Prigozhin, and Russia's most famous wartime figure mysteriously disappeared.

**Crash Details**

On the night of August 23, 2023, a private Embraer Legacy 600 plane crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino, Bologov District, Tver Region. All ten people on board died. Among the dead were Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, commander Dmitry Utkin, whose military name was "Wagner" (the group's name was taken from his call sign), Prigozhin's assistant Valery Chkalov, group associates Sergei Propustin, Yevgeny Makaryan, Alexander Totmin, Nikolai Matuseyev, and three crew members.

After the crash, the question of whether Prigozhin was on board the plane became a hot topic. Rosaviatsia confirmed that the businessman was on board. Various sources have reported that Prigozhin had previously used the same plane. The plane was flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

**Putin's reaction**

Shortly after Prigozhin's plane crashed, Putin attended a celebration dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. The ceremony was broadcast live, and Putin awarded the servicemen who had been awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

Putin first spoke about Prigozhin's death a month after the crash, during a meeting with the head of the "DPR" Denis Pushilin in the Kremlin. He acknowledged that among the victims were employees of a private military company that had "made a huge contribution" to Russia's war in Ukraine, and said that Prigozhin was "a person with a difficult fate, capable of achieving the desired result."

"I have known Prigozhin since the 1990s. He was a man with a complicated fate, he made serious mistakes in life. He achieved the necessary results, both for the common cause. He was a talented person and an entrepreneur," Putin said.

**Was the plane shot down?**

After Prigozhin's death, the main topic of discussion was how the plane he was flying on crashed. Witnesses saw the plane explode in the air. The Gray Zone Telegram channel, which is close to Wagner, wrote that Prigozhin's plane was shot down by an air defense system.

A source on the Mash Telegram channel said that witnesses heard two loud noises before the plane crashed. This was an indication that the plane was hit from outside. Usually, two missiles are launched at it to shoot down a target. Videos from the crash site show that the plane was missing one wing as it crashed, and its stabilizer had also been detached. Another version is that a terrorist attack on board caused the plane crash.

Investigators say they are considering all possible versions, including pilot error, technical failure and external influences. According to FlightRadar, the plane disappeared from radar during takeoff. The pilots did not report any unusual situation to the dispatchers.

Military expert Yuri Fyodorov says that the plane's crash trajectory (which was captured on videos taken by eyewitnesses) is consistent with an explosion on board. He cast doubt on the version that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, noting that the videos show no traces of the missile.

US intelligence satellites did not record a missile launch near the crash site. They also have no evidence that the plane in which Prigozhin was sitting was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Based on this, the Americans concluded that a bomb was planted on Prigozhin's plane.

American and European officials told The New York Times, speaking on condition of anonymity, that Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction of the plane with Prigozhin on board.

There are also speculations that the initiative to kill Prigozhin came from Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov. Because Prigozhin had repeatedly publicly insulted Shoigu and Gerasimov.

The WSJ, citing its own source, wrote that Prigozhin was killed on the personal orders of the then Secretary General of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. According to the newspaper, Putin did not object to this. The Kremlin calls this article "yellow press gossip."

**Prigozhin, who "died" several times**

Prigozhin has "died" twice before. For example, in 2019, there was a rumor that he had died in Congo. At that time, it was reported that the An-27 military cargo plane in which Prigozhin was traveling crashed, killing the businessman. However, this rumor was not confirmed.

Another rumor about Prigozhin's death appeared in 2022. In August of that year, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a missile strike on the Wagner headquarters in Luhansk, killing many fighters of the group. There were rumors that Prigozhin was also at the headquarters at the time of the missile strike, and that he also died as a result. However, Prigozhin himself soon denied this rumor. These two "death rumors" further fueled rumors that Prigozhin was a lookalike.