Explained | Yevgeny Prigozhin presumed dead: Was plane shot down by missile? Who is behind the crash?

A plane reportedly carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, crashed on Wednesday (August 23), killing all 10 on board. Russian officials confirmed that Prigozhin’s name was on the list but it can not be confirmed if he was actually on the plane. Flight tracking data showed that soon after the crash, a second private jet thought to belinked to Prigozhin also appeared to be heading to St. Petersburg, but it was turned back to Moscow and later landed.

Was the plane shot down?

Some bizarre theories have been doing the rounds since the news of the plane crash broke. A Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner claimed on Wednesday that the plane was “shot down” in the sky over the Tver region by the Russian Defence Ministry.

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According to the Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Grey Zone,"The plane was shot down in the sky over the Tver region by air defence forces of the Russian Defense Ministry."

The post added, "It is reported that one of the Embraer Legacy 600 private planes belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin disappeared from the radar at 18:20, the dispatchers tried to contact the crew, but to no avail, after which the air traffic controllers notified the Russian Ministry of Defense and air defence units about the incident."

The channel added that the second plane was also owned by Prigozhin. According to the Grey Zone, "The second Embraer 600 business jet with tail number RA-02795, which also belonged to the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, landed at the Ostafyevo airport near Moscow."

The same channel also pronounced him dead, hailing him as a hero and a patriot who it said had died at the hands of unidentified people it called "traitors to Russia". Details of the post have been carried out by some media outlets, but WION can't independently verify them.

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What do we know about the plane?

The Embraer executive jet model that crashed in Russia is pretty safe. It has only recorded one accident in more than 20 years of service, and that was not related to mechanical failure. Russia’s TASS news agency said the plane was a Brazilian Embraer jet.

Embraer said it was aware of a plane crash in Russia involving a Legacy 600 aircraft, but it did not have further information about the case and had not been providing support services for the jet since 2019.

"Embraer has complied with international sanctions imposed on Russia," the planemaker said. Sanctions block Western plane makers from providing parts or support for planes operated in Russia.

The aircraft, manufactured in 2007, fell under US Treasury sanctions in 2019 when it was listed under a prior registration, M-SAAN, according to a US government press release.

Who is behind the crash?

US President Joe Biden’s reaction to the plane crash was quite blunt and striking as he alleged involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden said, "I don't know for a fact what happened, but I'm not surprised. There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin's not behind. But I don't know enough to know the answer."

France also said that there were "reasonable doubts" about the cause of the plane crash.
But experts have said that whoever or whatever was behind the crash, his death would rid Putin of someone who had mounted the most serious challenge to the Russian leader's authority since he came to power in 1999. Notably, in June this year, Prigozhin staged a coup against Putin which eventually failed.

Not just Wagner chief, others who have opposed Putin or his interests have also died under unclear circumstances or come close to death in the past, including outspoken political leaders and journalists. Such claims have always been denied by Russia.

Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speech writer turned critic suggestedwithout evidence that the Russian leader was behind the crash. Gallyamov wrote on Telegram: "The establishment is now convinced that it will not be possible to oppose Putin. Putin is strong enough and capable of revenge."

Bill Browder, a businessman and another Kremlin critic, wrote on X: "Putin never forgives and never forgets. He looked like a humiliated weakling with Prigozhin running around without a care in the world (after the mutiny). This will cement his authority." Browder has years of experience in Russia.

Who else was onboard the plane that crashed?

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency released the names of two pilots and one flight attendant who lost their lives in the deadly crash. The agency cited the airline to confirm that Captain Aleksei Levshin, co-pilot Rustam Karimov, and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova died in the crash.

The agency also released the names of those who were onboard, apart from Prigozhin. The list includes Sergey Propustin, Evgeniy Makaryan, Aleksandr Totmin, and Nikolay Matuseev. Two names stood out — Valeriy Chekalov and Dmitry Utkin.

Chekalov was a senior aide to Prigozhin designated by the US Treasury for acting "for or on behalf of Prigozhin and has facilitated shipments of munitions to the Russian Federation".

On the other hand, Utkin was Prigozhin's right-hand man who helped establish the mercenary group and bore the call sign "Wagner".

(With inputs from agencies)

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