“No one should be surprised.” First reactions from the US about Prigozhin

“Eight bodies were found at the Embraer private plane crash site of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency services. The incident took place in the Tver region.

Earlier, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation reported that 10 people were on board, and according to preliminary information, they all died.

There is more information that Prigozhin himself died in the crash. “Rasija 24 TV reported Prigozhin’s death,” wrote Bartłomiej Wypartowicz of the Defense 24 portal on Portal X. The death of the head of the Wagner group was also confirmed by Vladimir Rogov, head of the pro-Russian socio-political movement “We are together with Russia”. “I just spoke to senior Wagner members. They confirm the deaths of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin,” he wrote on Telegram. Utkin is a former Russian military intelligence officer, founder of the Wagner Group, and Prigozhin’s right-hand man.

The US responds

“We’ve seen the reports. As for Prigozhin’s death, no one should be surprised,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said.

The White House said in a special statement that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the matter.

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) launched an investigation into the crash of the Embraer plane in the Tver region on Wednesday, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

The uprising of the Wagner group in Russia

In late June, Prigozhin and his mercenaries launched an armed uprising that, according to Russian opposition media, nearly culminated in Russia’s first military coup since the 1990s, dealing the biggest blow to Vladimir Putin’s authority in 24 years in power.

As part of the negotiations between the Kremlin and Prigozhin, and with the participation of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, it was agreed that the Wagnerites who took part in the uprising would avoid criminal liability on the condition that they leave for Belarus.

At the Wagner Group camp in the village of Cel near Osipowicz, British intelligence identified about 300 tents and 200 vehicles. The analysis was based on satellite images taken in July 2023.

Prigozhin has repeatedly complained about Russia’s conduct of the war in Ukraine. He often said that the regular forces were not supplying his men with the ammunition they needed, even accusing the top Russian command of treason.