U.S. and other Western officials said that preliminary intelligence reports had led them to believe that an explosion on board a plane linked to the Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin most likely brought down the aircraft on Wednesday, killing all the passengers aboard. The Pentagon said yesterday that “it’s likely Prigozhin was killed.”
U.S. and Western officials said the blast could have been caused by a bomb or another device planted on the aircraft, though other possibilities, like adulterated fuel, were also being explored.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in his first comments since the jet went down, spoke obliquely of Prigozhin’s death, referring to him in the past tense during a televised meeting. “He made some serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved necessary results,” he said.
Prigozhin founded and led the Wagner private military group, which made significant battlefield gains in Ukraine, before he staged a brief mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June.
Prigozhin’s presumed death is a reminder of all those who have paid a heavy price for standing up to Putin.
