2023-08-24 21:08:44
by Fabrizio Dragosei
The Russian president recalled the leader of Wagner with these words: “He was a talented man, he achieved results”. The American media: “There was a bomb on board”
The quasi-confirmation of the rebel mercenary’s death came from the head of state himself: «I offer my sincere condolences to the families of all those killed in the plane crash… Preliminary data show that Wagner company executives were on board… Prigozhin I had known him for a long time, since the early nineties. He was a man of a complex fate and made serious mistakes in his life. But he got the results that were needed, both for himself and for the common cause when I asked him to. Just like in the last few months».
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, said nothing about what caused the plane to crash, while experts are now almost all pointing to a malicious act. Probably a bomb on board, according to the main American media, while other possibilities have not yet been ruled out, such as the explosion of a missile launched from the ground or the tampering of some apparatus. The attack, because by now it seems almost impossible to speak of an accident, swept away the general staff of the private company which at this point could also cease to operate entirely as an autonomous entity from the Armed Forces.
Prigozhin died, who would have been identified by the missing phalanx of a finger; Dmitry Utkin, his right hand man, founder and military leader of the organization died. Another executive who was in charge of the mercenary forces in Sudan also died. According to some reports, the camp that had been built in Belarus and which was supposed to form the new operational base of Wagner is already being dismantled. The soldiers are waiting for directions, but for now the watchword is caution. The intermediate commanders do not want to expose themselves and invite everyone to calm down, “waiting for clarification on what actually happened”. This despite many of the messages posted on Telegram channels asking and promising revenge, directly indicating the head of the Kremlin as the “certain” instigator of the assassination.
From the direct testimonies and from the video images analysed, it is clear that the Embraer suffered significant damage while it was at high altitude, during the flight that was supposed to take it from Moscow to St. Petersburg. About 300 kilometers from the capital it suddenly lost a wing and other pieces. Possibly a bomb placed inside the undercarriage housing.
The investigators want to hear what Prigozhin’s personal pilot, Artem Stepanov, has to say, however he would have left for the Far East the day before the attack. Since then Stepanov would be unreachable, as well as the two owners of the company that operated the plane, Olga Gubareva and Kirill Shcherbakov. There is also talk of a wine case stuffed with TNT that would have been given to Prigozhin and taken on board without any checks.
However, on Wednesday evening, the aircraft crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino. All the bodies of the people on board were recovered but following the explosion they are almost unrecognizable. In addition to the chief and Utkin, on the aircraft were three bodyguards of Putin’s former cook, his security chief and head of operations in Sudan, and three crew members.
But who ordered the massacre? While the facts have not been clarified, “it is no coincidence that the whole world is eyeing the Kremlin,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. “We have nothing to do with what happened – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said instead – Everyone knows who did it”. But imaginative ideas that aim to perpetuate Prigozhin’s aura of invincibility also keep circulating. Russian sites are full of quotes from Arab and African media that give the head of Wagner alive and well right in Africa, in Mali.
In Russia, meanwhile, improvised memorials are springing up everywhere for the man who had achieved great popularity with his public outings against inefficiency and corruption. In St. Petersburg, flowers, candles and a banner: “We are with you”. Other tributes to Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Nizhny Novgorod.
August 24, 2023 (change August 24, 2023 | 21:08)
© Time.News
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