The private jet carrying Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin does appear to have been targeted in an assassination plot, but was likely not brought down by a surface-to-air missile as initially thought, U.S. officials say.
A preliminary investigation of the incident indicated that either a bomb detonated on the plane during the flight or it went down for another reason, the Wall Street Journal reported. The publication’s update came after U.S. officials told Reuters that the plane may have been downed by a surface-to-air missile launched from Russian soil.
All ten passengers on board, including the head of the mercenary group, which in June attempted a coup against Russia’s military leadership, perished in the crash. Prigozhin’s forces were notorious for brutal battle field tactics in Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine.
Russian officials confirmed Prigozhin was on the passenger list.
“An investigation of the Embraer plane crash that happened in the Tver Region this evening was initiated. According to the passenger list, first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list,” Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said in a statement.
Russian president Vladimir Putin shared his condolences with the families of those who died on the plane. The Russian government initiated an investigation soon after for violation of air safety rules.
Many commentators online quickly concluded that Putin exacted his revenge against Prigozhin for the mutiny he led, noting the leader’s history of cracking down on opponents to the regime. Putin said at the time that the mutiny could have driven the country to civil war.
Putin and Prigozhin reached an agreement, brokered by Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko, after the coup was abandoned to avert further armed conflict. The agreement, according to Lukashenko, reportedly prevented “a bloodbath on the territory of Russia” and was “absolutely advantageous and acceptable” for Prigozhin. However, the original statement did not include specific details.
On Wednesday, Russia ousted Sergei Surovikin from his position as head of the air force after he went MIA during the Wagner incursion, Reuters reported, citing two Russian news outlets. Surovikin is the most senior Russian military figure to be removed over the June shakeup.