The riddle of ‘urgent repairs’ to the jet Yevgeny Prigozhin died on just before it took off described in an intriguing Facebook post by a stewardess who was among the dead
For some, it was remarkable in itself that Yevgeny Prigozhin had lasted this long after his abortive mutiny against the Kremlin two months ago.
After images of him driving triumphantly through Rostov-on-Don, some 600 miles from Moscow, captured the world’s attention, this complex figure appears to have met his end at the hands of the man whose authority he challenged.
So how much nearer are we to understanding exactly what happened in his final hours?
Witnesses to the crash heard a loud bang before they saw the jet ‘fall from the sky’ – locals on social media were sharing these images of the aftermath
A Russian serviceman inspects a part of a crashed private jet near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region
Uprising that shocked the world
On the night of Saturday June 24 a smiling Yevgeny Prigozhin waved to his adoring supporters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The grisly 62-year-old with the shaven head made an unlikely folk hero but, after leading an albeit brief rebellion against the Kremlin, he had the crowds in the palm of his hand.
This moment on a balmy summer’s evening proved his apotheosis. The former convict had achieved an unlikely rise to command arguably the world’s leading Private Military Company (PMC), Wagner.
He had also negotiated a most generous deal with Vladimir Putin, a settlement which made the furious president appear weaker than at any time in his two decades in power.
His only punishment for leading an uprising which threatened to plunge Russia into civil war would be political exile in Belarus. To Western intelligence analysts it seemed to good to be true.
READ MORE: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s body ‘was identified in morgue by a missing finger from injury suffered in penal colony’ after his plane was blown out of the sky – but Western spies still don’t know if mystery explosion was a surface-to-air missile or bomb
The African summit
Prigozhin was rarely seen in Belarus and on July 28 he joined president Putin and African political leaders at a summit in his home city of St Petersburg.
To the outside world it appeared that the outspoken warlord had made his peace with Putin and was being welcomed back into the political fold.
Casually dressed and looking rested, he was photographed cosying up to presidents and prime ministers who have wilfully exchanged their countries’ natural resources for Wagner’s political services and protection. Prigozhin was in his element.
The last video
Having maintained a low profile for several weeks, Prigozhin reappeared in a Wagner promotional video on Tuesday, filmed in northern Africa.
Posing in his military fatigues, including a rather ludicrous camouflage sunhat, and clutching an assault rifle, he boasted how his PMC was improving security on the continent and making life a nightmare for IS and Al Qaeda.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage of a crashed private jet, near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver region, Russia, on August 24
Flight attendant Kristina Raspopova, killed on board of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet on August 23
All seemed well in his world. While he was under investigation for alleged corruption, that did not seem to matter as he brandished such a high-powered weapon, while wearing body armour and carrying spare magazines bursting with 7.62mm calibre rounds. Prigozhin appeared every inch the globetrotting warlord, the man who had dared to thumb his nose to the Kremlin and, remarkably, had got away with it.
Seemingly he was too influential even for his ruthless old adversary Vladimir Putin to dispose of.
The fatal flight
Prigozhin and other senior members of Wagner, including the PMC’s co-founder, his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, 53, flew back to Russia that evening.
They were accompanied by Valery Chekalov, 47, a veteran of the campaign in Ukraine; Sergei Propustin, 44, who fought alongside Prigozhin during the battle of Bakhmut; and two other mercenaries, Alexander Totmin, 30, and Yevgeniy Makaryan, who took part in Wagner’s brutal clampdown on opposition to president Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Their bodyguards were also in tow.
On Wednesday their final flight, from Moscow to Prigozhin’s home city of St Petersburg was delayed, apparently due to mechanical issues with their Embraer Legacy private jet.
With time to spare, stewardess Kristina Raspopova, 39, swiped her smartphone and opened her Facebook page.
She posted a photograph of her airport meal, white bread, pate and butter, and told relatives the aircraft was being ‘repaired’.
With time to spare, stewardess Raspopova, 39, swiped her smartphone and opened her Facebook page
Whatever the cause, just after 6pm local time the jet was seen circling over the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, north of the Russian capital city. Its engines were ablaze and one of its wings was severely damaged
A relative said: ‘She said that she was in Moscow. The aircraft was under maintenance or some urgent repairs. It seemed like she had been there for a while. That is at least a couple of days.
‘They were waiting for the order to take off.’
Seemingly the issues which delayed their departure were rectified and, on Wednesday afternoon, the luxury aircraft climbed for 12 minutes after take-off, eventually reaching an altitude of 28,000ft.
Suddenly it disappeared off the radar. What happened next remains unconfirmed.
Either the aircraft was destroyed by an explosive device hidden on board, or it was targeted by a surface-to-air missile – smoke trails observed by eyewitnesses suggest the latter but US intelligence officials yesterday cast doubt on that theory.
Whatever the cause, just after 6pm local time it was seen circling over the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, north of the Russian capital city.
Its engines were ablaze and one of its wings was severely damaged. Then, to the horror of bystanders below, who were filming the incident, the jet entered a nose-dive towards the ground, crashing in a ball of flames. Within 30 seconds the jet had plummeted more than 8,000 feet.
All ten of those on board were found dead at the scene.
The second flight
About ten minutes after the crash a second Embraer Legacy 650, also chartered by Wagner, landed safely in St Petersburg. It had been on a similar flight path to the stricken jet.
This led to speculation that Prigozhin may have survived the assassination attempt by flying on the other aircraft.
It was not to be, however. The assassin’s selection of the correct aircraft indicated inside knowledge of the Wagner chief’s travel plans, which had often been subject to last-minute alterations for security purposes.
The Russian Investigative Committee released a photo of the alleged crash site on Wednesday after the blaze had been extinguished
The Wagner headquarters in St Petersburg appeared to be lit up in the shape of a cross
Western intelligence assessments
US and other Western officials said that preliminary intelligence reports led them to believe that an explosion on board brought down the aircraft.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it may be some time before Western intelligence agencies can say with absolute certainty that Prigozhin was aboard.
Russian investigators plan to interrogate a pilot amid suggestions that the private jet was blown up by a bomb concealed near the toilet.
Baza, a channel on Russian social media app Telegram with links to the country’s security services, reported that Artyom Stepanov is being sought and may have had access to the plane before it commenced its final flight.
But the development was viewed with scepticism by Western officials.
The West believes Putin is most likely to be responsible for the deaths of Prigozhin and key lieutenants. US President Joe Biden said yesterday: ‘There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.’
The bomb theory and release of Mr Stepanov’s name may be an attempt by the Kremlin to put some distance between itself and claims of a state-sponsored assassination.
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