Rumors of a bomb hidden on a wine cart, an assassination attempt involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and a fake death plot have emerged just hours after the death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants in a plane crash on Thursday.
While an investigation is underway into what caused the crash, which notably occurred exactly two months after Wagner’s short-lived rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership, Prigozhin’s death is being speculated as an assassination aimed at avenging the mutiny against Putin.
The founder of the Wagner military company was among seven passengers aboard a private jet that crashed shortly after departing from Moscow on Wednesday. The aircraft carried a crew of three, as confirmed by Russia’s civil aviation authority.
Rescue teams discovered a total of 10 bodies, with Russian media referring to unnamed insiders within Wagner Group asserting that Prigozhin had passed away.
Theories
The Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, carrying Prigozhin and other senior Wagner Group members among the 10 passengers, displayed “no signs of any issues" during the initial part of its flight on Wednesday, as reported by Ian Petchenik from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
At 5:19 p.m. local time, the aircraft executed a “sudden downward vertical" maneuver, descending over 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet in approximately 30 seconds, according to a New York Post article.
“Whatever occurred, happened quickly," Petchenik was quoted as saying, suggesting that the occupants might have been grappling with the aircraft in response to the event.
Video footage showed the plane’s nose sharply pointed downward while trailing a cloud of smoke or vapor.
A woman off-camera can be heard mentioning that the plane “made two banging sounds" before erupting and descending.
Another resident residing close to Kuzhenkino, around 290 kilometers (180 miles) northwest of Moscow, reported that her neighbor perceived a loud roar and observed “sparkling from the plane," followed by flames.
Sharing her account in a video released by the Russian state-operated news agency RIA Novosti, she stated, “A neighbour ran up to me with shaking hands and when we went to the window I saw only one mushroom (a cloud from the explosion), a black cloud."
Russia’s Investigative Committee announced the initiation of a criminal case regarding breaches of air traffic regulations. The committee further specified that “forensic examinations" would be conducted as part of the investigation.
Meanwhile, several Russian social media platforms reported that the bodies were severely burned or disfigured to the extent that DNA identification would be necessary.
Wine Crate Bomb Claim
One of the theories circulating on Russian social media platforms suggests the possibility of a bomb being placed on Prigozhin’s aircraft, potentially hidden within a wine crate. This information was reported by the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which maintains ties to Russian security services.
“Supposedly someone testified that at the very last moment, a certain gift consisting of a crate of expensive wine was loaded unto the plane,” wrote VChK-OGPU. “And now they are looking into claims that the crate may have contained a bomb.”
Citing an additional unnamed source, the same publication also revealed that Kristina Raspopova, the flight attendant aboard the jet, had apparently informed her brother during a phone conversation prior to the tragic trip on Wednesday that she and the crew were anticipating a “important phone call” as they prepared to depart from Moscow.
Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele told Sky News that incident was certainly an inside job, “the suggestion is that it’s a bomb in a wine crate," he said.
“That’s a kind of ironic end for Putin’s former caterer," he added.
As per the New York Post article citing Russian publication SHOT, investigators are examining the potential scenario of an explosive being placed in the aircraft’s landing gear.
Russian Assassination
Unnamed British defense sources speaking to BBC News have implicated Russia’s FSB domestic intelligence agency, known for its allegiance to Putin. However, the sources did not offer any substantiating evidence for this assertion.
Citing “various sources," the Telegram channel Grey Zone, closely linked to the Wagner Group, stated that Russian air defense systems downed Prigozhin’s plane. However, the validity of these assertions couldn’t be independently verified.
Sergei Mironov, leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party and former chair of the upper house of the Russian parliament, put forth on his Telegram channel the idea that Prigozhin had been deliberately targeted. “Prigozhin messed with too many people in Russia, Ukraine and the West,” Mironov wrote. “It now seems that at some point his number of enemies reached a critical point," he added.
Some supporters of Prigozhin have leveled accusations against Ukraine, alleging that the crash was orchestrated on the eve of the country’s Independence Day. “We had nothing to do with it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Thursday. “Everybody realizes who has something to do with it,” he said.
Putin Breaks Silence
Putin’s statement is being viewed as the first official confirmation that the Wagner chief is killed.
Breaking his silence on the crash, Putin extended condolences to the families of those on board the jet and acknowledged “serious errors" attributed to Prigozhin.
Putin noted that the passengers had played a significant role in the conflict in Ukraine, adding, “We are aware of this, we remember, and it will not be forgotten." He conveyed this sentiment during a televised interview with Denis Pushilin, the leader of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region, a position supported by Russia.
Recalling his acquaintance with Prigozhin dating back to the early 1990s, Putin described him as “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results he needed — both for himself and, when I asked him about it, for the common cause, as in these last months. He was a talented man, a talented businessman.”
(With inputs from agencies)