Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private plane showed no signs of distress until it crashed suddenly 30 seconds before its fatal crash in Russia – amid speculation that the rogue warlord’s plane may have been brought down by a bomb hidden in a wine crate.
The Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, with Prigozhin and other senior Wagner Group members listed among the 10 passengers, showed “no indication that anything was wrong” at the start of Wednesday’s flight, according to Ian Petchenik of flight-tracking site Flightradar24.
It then made an “abrupt vertical descent” at 5:19 p.m. local time — and in about 30 seconds, plummeted more than 8,000 feet from its cruising altitude of 28,000 feet.
“Whatever happens, happens quickly,” Petchenik said. “They might wrestle [with the aircraft] after whatever happened.
The video shows the plane plummeting with its nose pointing almost straight down and a plume of smoke or steam trailing behind it.
Flightradar24 received the last data on the jet at 5:20 p.m., moments before it fell from the sky near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region while en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
Embraer jet models have an excellent safety record, with only one accident recorded in over 20 years of service.
There is speculation that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane may have been brought down by a bomb hidden in a wine crate.TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP via Getty Images
Wagner Prigozhin’s group rebelled against Russia in the June 23 uprising.Razgruzka_Vagnera/UPI/Shutterstock
Flight tracking data shows that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane suddenly dropped 8,000 feet just 30 seconds before falling from the sky over Russia’s Tver region. Reuters
The Brazilian plane maker said it had not provided support services for Prigozhin’s jets since 2019 in compliance with US sanctions on the mercenary boss.
Since news of the plane crash broke on Wednesday, there has been heightened speculation about its cause and who might have targeted Prigozhin – less than two months after he was labeled a “traitor” by Russian President Vladimir Putin for leading a short-lived rebellion against him. top military officer.
One of the theories circulating on Russian social media sites is that a bomb was planted on Prigozhin’s plane, possibly hidden in a wine crate, reported the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia’s security services.
“Someone should have testified that at the last moment, a certain gift consisting of a box of expensive wine was loaded into the plane,” wrote the VChK-OGPU. “And now they are looking into claims that the crate may have contained a bomb.”
The plane was thoroughly inspected with sniffer dogs before the crates of wine were loaded, the Telegram channel added.
Wagner’s private army fighter Yevgeny Makaryan was killed in the crash. Social media/east2west
Valery Chekalov was killed in the crash.Social media/east2west
Private fighter Wagner Sergey Propustin was killed in the crash. Social media/east2west
Wagner Group co-founder Dmitry Utkin was killed in the crash.social media/east2west
Wagner fighter Alexander Totmin was killed in the crash.Social media/east2west
The same outlet also reported, citing another anonymous source, that the flight attendant on the jet, identified as Kristina Raspopova, told her brother in a phone conversation before the ill-fated trip on Wednesday that she and the rest of the crew were waiting for “an important phone call.” pending their departure from Moscow.
Raspopova also allegedly said the jet was undergoing repairs.
Investigators are said to be investigating the possibility that explosives were planted in the jet’s landing gear, Russian outlet SHOT reported.
A British defense source who spoke anonymously to BBC News pointed the finger at Russia’s FSB domestic intelligence agency, which is loyal to Putin. They provided no evidence to support this claim.
The Gray Zone Telegram channel, closely linked to the Wagner Group, reported, citing “various sources, that Russian air defense systems shot down Prigozhin’s plane from the sky.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin speechwriter turned critic, suggested that the Russian strongman was behind the crash and had consolidated his power, which was challenged by Prigozhin’s June rebellion.
“The establishment is now convinced that it is impossible to oppose Putin,” Gallyamov wrote on Telegram. “Putin is strong enough and capable of revenge.”
Bill Browder, a prominent businessman and outspoken foe of the Kremlin, went further in blaming Putin.
“Putin never forgives and never forgets. He looks like a humiliated weakling with Prigozhin running around without a care in the world (after the rebellion). This will strengthen his authority,” wrote Browder on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Captain Aleksei Levshin was killed in the crash.Social media/east2west
Flight attendant Kristina Raspopova was killed in the crash.Social media/east2west
Co-pilot Rustam Karimov was killed in the crash.Social media/east2west
Some of Prigozhin’s supporters accused Ukraine of orchestrating the crash on the eve of the country’s Independence Day.
“We have nothing to do with it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters Thursday.
“Everybody realizes who has something to do with it.”
Prigozhin’s uprising on June 23 aimed at ousting Russia’s top military leader over his handling of the Ukraine war was the most serious challenge to Putin’s 23-year grip on power.
The brief uprising ended within two days when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal allowing the Wagner Group to move to Belarus.
Russia’s aviation agency published the names of all 10 people on the downed plane, including Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his right-hand man and alleged co-founder of the Wagner Group.
Others said to be on the jet and presumed dead include the flight attendant, Raspopova, Prigozhin’s head of security Valery Chekalov, officers Sergei Propustin and Nikolai Matyuseev, bodyguards Yevgeny Makaryan and Alexander Totmin, pilot Aleksei Levshin and co-pilot Rustam Karimov.
The country’s main investigative body launched a criminal investigation but there has been no official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death other than a statement from the Federal Air Transport Agency acknowledging his presence on board.
Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian Defense Ministry have commented on Prigozhin – and neither Putin nor Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mentioned the Wagner boss during the BRICS summit in South Africa.
With Postal wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
