BODY OF PRIGOZHIN HAS BEEN PROVISIONALLY IDENTIFIED, DNA ANALYSIS PENDING- REPORT

Thu 24 August 2023:

Pro-Kremlin television station Tsargrad TV has reported, citing its own sources, that Prigozhin’s body has been provisionally identified, but that DNA analysis was still pending, according to the DPA news agency.

The crash, which remains shrouded in mystery, has ignited speculation about how Prigozhin, an outspoken critic of top Russian defence officials, met his fate – if his death is officially confirmed.

The Grey Zone Telegram channel, which is affiliated with Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary forces, suggested the plane was shot down, but offered no evidence to support its claim.

Top Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin was also reportedly on the plane.

Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said an investigation was under way into the cause of the crash but offered no preliminary theory as to what may have happened.

Russian aviation authorities say Prigozhin killed in plane crash

Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia said Prigozhin was one of 10 people on board a plane that crashed while travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg.

The plane crashed on Wednesday near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said.

Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24 told the Reuters news agency that the aircraft made a “sudden downward vertical” at 6:19pm local time (15:19 GMT).

Within about 30 seconds, the aircraft had plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.

“Whatever happened, happened quickly,” Petchenik said.

Mourners set up memorial near former Wagner HQ in St Petersburg

A makeshift memorial has been set up near the former headquarters of the Wagner mercenary force in the Russian city of St Petersburg, following the reported death of Prigozhin in a plane crash.

People laid flowers, lit candles and left memorabilia bearing the Wagner group’s skull logo at the memorial.

‘Reasonable doubts’ over Prigozhin plane crash: Paris

Paris said on Thursday that there were “reasonable doubts” about the “circumstances” surrounding the plane crash that is reported to have killed Prigozhin.

French government spokesman Olivier Veran was asked about the crash and US President Joe Biden’s claim that little “happens in Russia that (President Vladimir) Putin is not behind” on France 2 television.

He responded: “We don’t yet know the circumstances of this crash. We can have some reasonable doubts.”

Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel blames Prigozhin death on ‘traitors’

A Telegram channel associated with the Wagner Group blamed “traitors” for the death of Prigozhin, the Reuters news agency reports.

“The head of the Wagner Group, a Hero of Russia, a true patriot of his Motherland – Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia,” a post in the Grey Zone channel said.

“But even in Hell, he will be the best! Glory to Russia!”

Timing noted in official dismissal of Russian General Surovikin, once a key ally of Prigozhin

Kathryn Stoner, director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, notes that Prigozhin’s plane crash coincided with reports on the official dismissal of Russian General Sergei Surovikin as head of Russia’s aerospace forces.

Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since the short-lived Wagner mutiny in June, was previously commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. He was also one of Prigozhin’s most important allies in the Wagner chief’s power struggles with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

“I think there is some division in the military on how the war has gone. It’s likely that Prigozhin had some sympathisers in the Russian military as did Surovikin,” Stoner told Reuters.

“So making sure that those people have been demoted or removed, and this has happened actually with some members of the Russian military a little lower down over the last month or so,” she said.

No comment yet from Putin on reported death of Prigozhin

While international reaction to the reported death of the Wagner boss was swift, Russia’s president has yet to comment.

Putin was attending a publicly televised concert in honour of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk around the time that Prigozhin’s plane was reported to have crashed on Wednesday evening.

Putin did not mention the crash, which occurred exactly two months after Wagner mercenaries mounted an armed rebellion against the Russian military, shooting down several aircraft and killing at least 13 Russian service members as Prigozhin’s forces advanced on Moscow.

At the time of the mutiny Putin said Wagner had “betrayed Russia and will answer for it”, though he then allowed Prigozhin and his fighters to redeploy to Belarus.

“This is a stab in the back of our troops and the people of Russia,” Putin said at the time.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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