Wagner supporters are pointing the finger at Russian “traitors” for a fatal plane crash that killed the mercenary group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine others.
The blame game began in the hours after reports that Prigozhin had been on a private jet that mysteriously plummeted to the ground in Russia about half an hour after take-off.
Wagner-linked Telegram, Grey Zone, claimed the plane had been shot down by the Russian military amid witness reports of two explosion sounds before it fell.
Some unnamed sources told Russian media they believed the plane was shot down by surface-to-air missiles, but this has not been confirmed.
Another unnamed source was quoted in Western media suggesting a bomb could have been planted among the plane’s cargo, specifically in a crate of wine that was loaded onto the aircraft.
The fatal crash not only took out Prigozhin but his right-hand man Dmitry Utkin, leaving the company rudderless.
It’s believed the Russian government may attempt to take over the privately run army which has operations in Ukraine, Africa and elsewhere.
As news of the crash broke on Wednesday (local time), Russian President Vladimir Putin was giving a speech in Kursk to mark the 80th anniversary of a Soviet war victory over Nazi Germany, considered the largest tank battle in history.
Russian authorities ended speculation about Prigozhin potentially having escaped a fiery death by confirming he was on the flight.
The Grey Zone Telegram channel also pronounced him dead and declared Prigozhin a hero and a patriot who had died at the hands of unidentified “traitors to Russia”.
US President Joe Biden said he was not surprised at Prigozhin’s fiery end, adding that not much happened in the country that Mr Putin was not behind.
Soviet experts also speculated that it was likely an order to wipe out Prigozhin came from Mr Putin himself.
Whoever or whatever was behind the crash, Prigozhin’s death would rid Mr Putin of someone who had mounted the most serious challenge to his authority since coming to power in 1999.
There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin or the Defence Ministry.
Russia’s emergency situations ministry said in a statement that the aircraft, which had been travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, had crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region.
It said that 10 people had been on board, including three crew members. According to preliminary information, everyone on board had been killed, it said.
Soon after the plane dropped out of the sky, a second private jet linked to Prigozhin, which also appeared to be heading to St Petersburg, turned back to Moscow and later landed.
Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded the mutiny in June in which Wagner fighters shot down Russian attack helicopters, killing an unconfirmed number of pilots in a move which infuriated the military.
He also spent months criticising the way Russia was prosecuting its war in Ukraine, something Moscow calls a “special military operation”, and had tried to topple Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff.
Many Russians had wondered how he was able to get away with such brazen criticism.
The mutiny was ended by negotiations and an apparent Kremlin deal which saw Prigozhin agree to relocate to neighbouring Belarus. But in practice he had appeared to move freely inside Russia after the deal.
Flightradar24 online tracker showed that the Embraer Legacy 600 (plane number RA-02795) said to be carrying Prigozhin had dropped off the radar at 6.11 pm.
An unverified video clip posted to social media showed a plane resembling a private jet falling out of the sky toward the earth.
Another unverified clip showed the still burning wreckage of the plane on the ground. At least one body was visible. Rescuers had recovered seven bodies from the scene, TASS reported.
