The leader of the Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin, his deputy and eight other passengers were reportedly killed in a private plane crash on Wednesday in Russia. The Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport announced the plane crashed in Tver region, north-west of Moscow. On Monday, Prigozhin appeared in a video posted on social media by groups close to Wagner, saying he was in Africa. Prigozhin started an uprising in June against the Russian Defense Staff and the Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu. In Ukraine, Prigozhin stood out during the fight for Bakhmut in the east, where Wagner mercenaries, mostly recruited from Russian penitentiaries, reclaimed the city in May, sustaining heavy casualties. During the battle, Prigozhin’s conflict with the Russian high command escalated, the Wagner mercenary boss accusing Russian generals of incompetence and the failure of delivering additional ammo to Wagner troops. The Wagner private military company is also engaged in numerous theatres of operations in Africa, including the Central African Republic, Mali or Libya.
Eugen Cojocariu, Radio Romania International
