Anti War.com | August 28, 2023
Although Wagner leader Yevgeni Prigozhin had reportedly been banished to Belarus after his brief and spectacularly unsuccessful rebellion, he seemingly enjoyed a surprising freedom of movement. He apparently traveled between Belarus and Africa and traveled frequently between St. Petersburg and Moscow. He even made a very public and conspicuous appearance in July at the Russia-Africa summit where he met with African representatives and praised Vladimir Putin. But on August 23, Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.
It could have been an accident: planes crash, and Prigozhin flew often. It could have been a murder. There is no shortage of people who might have wanted Prigozhin dead. Forces in Niger – whose coup government had just requested Wagner’s help and whom Prigozhin had just praised – or parties with an interest in Niger, or an interest in arresting Russia’s influence in Africa, might have wanted to put an end to his recent campaign to recruit mercenary soldiers to Africa. Ukraine or Poland, upon whose border Wagner’s forces were massing, might have wanted to eliminate him. The US or Ukraine might have wanted to destabilize Russia by rekindling the struggle between Moscow, the Ministry of Defense and now angry and vengeful Wagner forces. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, whom Prigozhin wanted removed, might have wanted to remove him.
Maybe he faked his death – apparently he was reported dead in 2019.
He certainly had the means and ways to pull it off.