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Wagner chief Eugene Prigojine is believed to have died tonight following reports that a plane carrying him and nine others crashed and caught fire in Russia.
Shocking video footage showed the plane falling from the sky in the Bologovsky district of the Tver region, with unconfirmed footage showing what appears to be a plane covered in fire.
The reported death comes just two months after Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The stalemate had lasted for months, with Prigozhin saying he would take all necessary measures to overthrow the country’s military leadership, adding that his forces had “crossed state borders” and were ready to “destroy everything that made obstacle “.
While Prigozhin has more recently been seen as Putin’s number one enemy, not too long ago he was seen as a close ally of the Kremlin.
The 62-year-old had built his fortune providing catering services for the Kremlin, earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef”.
Eugene Prigozhin was once considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was known by the nickname “Putin’s leader”. Pictured: Prigozhin serving food to Putin in 2011
Tonight, the head of Wagner is believed to have died after a business jet carrying him crashed in the Tver region of Russia.
State-linked Russian social media posts photos of Yevgeny Prigozhin wearing wigs in different foreign countries
Born in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union in 1961, Prigozhin spent part of his youth in prison after being convicted of theft and fraud.
After being released from prison in 1990 after nine years in detention, Prigojine began selling hot dogs at flea markets in his hometown. He told The New York Times in 2018, “the rubles were piling up faster than his mother could count them.” And with the fall of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin created several enterprises.
After working in a grocery store and then in a gambling business, Prigozhin later became a restaurant owner. After success at several establishments, Prigozhin began landing lucrative Kremlin catering contracts with Russia’s elite.
This propelled him to the forefront of Russian politics and marked his growing ambitions.
He eventually bonded with Putin himself and reportedly received hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts to feed school children and civil servants.
These contracts, some of which were later involved in the military, are said to have led him to create the mercenary group Wager, although information on his exact origins is scarce.
Prigozhin had long denied any association with Wagner and threatened to sue journalists who reported on his involvement with the group.
The group gained a reputation for doing the Russian military’s dirty work, leaving a trail of brutal violence, rape and war crimes in its wake. For years after its creation, the Russian government refused to even acknowledge the existence of the group.
State-linked Russian social media posts photos of Yevgeny Prigozhin wearing wigs in different foreign countries
Footage shared online reportedly shows the plane, believed to be carrying the Russian leader, falling to the ground as it crashed in Russia’s Tver region.
Witnesses to the crash heard a loud bang before seeing the plane ‘fall from the sky’ – locals on social media are sharing these images of the aftermath, although it’s unconfirmed at this stage if it’s the plane is good.
Wagner’s first deployment was to the front lines in eastern Ukraine in 2014, where he helped Russian-backed separatist groups fight the country’s new government following the 2013 revolution that ousted the pro-Kremlin president.
They have since traveled to Libya – fighting alongside warlord Khalifa Haftar against the Western-backed Government of National Accord – and Syria, alongside the forces of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
They have also been deployed in the Central African Republic where they have been accused of rape, robbery and torture against unarmed civilians, and are currently deployed in Mali where they have been accused of massacres of civilians.
Until June, Prigozhin’s diatribes against military leaders were met with silence from Putin and the military. Some have seen this failure to stifle infighting as a sign of potential shifts in the Russian political scene, paving the way for more in-fighting.
A video posted by Prigozhin in May appears to have stirred up some divisions between the army and the militia – not only because of what it shows, but also because of what Wagner’s boss says.
It was initially unclear whether Wagner chief Prigozhin (pictured in a video believed to have been filmed in Africa and released on Monday) – known as Wagner chief and with longstanding ties to the Kremlin dictator – was on board.
Video reportedly showed the plane flying in the Tver region before crashing into the ground (right).
He stood before the bloodied bodies of his slain troops near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, shouting swear-riddled insults at Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. He called them weak and incompetent and blamed them for the carnage.
“They came here voluntarily and died to let you lounge in your mahogany offices,” Prigozhin said. “You sit in your expensive clubs, your children enjoy the good life and film videos on YouTube. Those who don’t give us ammo will be eaten alive in hell!
Prigozhin continued to launch unchaired verbal attacks on the Russian president before the conflict came to a head on June 23, when he sent 25,000 troops towards Moscow.
After taking the city of Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, the army marched north for several hours, forcing the capital into confinement, before an agreement was reached between him and the government.
The mutiny ended with negotiations and an apparent agreement from the Kremlin which saw Prigozhin agree to move to neighboring Belarus. But he nevertheless seemed to be able to move freely in Russia after the agreement.
Prigozhin, who was seeking to overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov, released a video speech on Monday which he suggests was filmed in Africa – but the date of the filming is unknown.