Just months after leading a short-lived coup against Russian president Vladimir Putin, infamous PMC Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly been killed in a "plane crash."
According to a passenger manifest, Prigozhin was on board the Wagner-owned plane when it plummeted to the earth, presumably killing all onboard.
Videos are now coming out of the plane crashing and the aftermath.
🚨#BREAKING: Wagner chief Prigozhin has died along with 10 other passengers on the jet that just crashed in Russia's Tver region pic.twitter.com/4kPLrsGANb
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) August 23, 2023
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 23, 2023
Russia just shot down a private jet belonging to Prigozhin over the Tver region.
Has Putin killed the leader of the Wagner Group? pic.twitter.com/whDlhgmYAu
Another video of the Prigozhin plane crash pic.twitter.com/jrtWT06Xp8
— Harrison Krank (@HarrisonKrank) August 23, 2023
A Telegram message sent by members of the Wagner group claimed that the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses. The first video does appear to show a second contrail from what may have been a missile.
Because reports are still so new at the time of this writing, it is at least possible Prigozhin wasn't on the plane despite being on the manifest. Given his prior actions against Putin, though, many assumed it was just a matter of time before he had an "accident."
Certainly, this can't help Russia's war effort in Ukraine given the reliance on PMC Wagner's forces. At the very least, morale will likely suffer if it is confirmed that Putin assassinated their leader.
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as they come.
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