European officials have doubts about cause of Wagner leader’s death in Prigozhin plane crash.
Russian Paramilitary Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Apparent Assassination Raises Doubts
The reported assassination of Russian paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has left Western officials skeptical, given their reluctance to trust Russia’s official statements.
“We don’t yet know the circumstances of this crash,” French government spokesman Olivier Veran said Thursday. “We can have some reasonable doubts.”
Prigozhin, the leader of the renowned Wagner Group mercenary force, died in a plane crash on Wednesday, along with his senior associates, according to Russian authorities. While Russian aviation officials quickly confirmed Prigozhin’s presence on the plane, European officials, who have been wary of Russian deceptions, remained cautious.
“I understand that Russia is claiming that Prigozhin has died,” said outgoing Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš. “I’ll let the facts establish themselves… Either he has been killed or he has not been killed.”
Despite the uncertainty, many observers and analysts believe that Prigozhin has indeed been killed, based on information from Wagner-affiliated social media channels and Russian government officials.
“It’s not clear who would be lying in this case. If Prighozin staged it… why would officials participate in this?” said Russian economist Konstantin Sonin. “Imagine that this is staged… it’s like a bad novel joined into a worse novel, right? Why would they conspire [together]?”
The cause of the crash remains unclear, with initial reports suggesting that the plane was shot down.
“The footage we’ve seen so far of the plane, it looks as though maybe one of its wings was clipped off,” said Rob Lee from the Foreign Policy Research Institute. ”There are sounds that probably have explosions in the air, from eyewitnesses, consistent with the use of air defense. And the fact that [the senior Wagner leaders were on board], that would be a pretty massive coincidence to say that this occurred and it was an accident.”
The international uncertainty surrounding the details of the crash was evident on Thursday. While some unnamed U.S. officials believed that a surface-to-air missile from Russia caused the crash, others suggested that a bomb or sabotage may have been involved.
“Our initial assessment is that it’s likely Prigozhin was killed. We’re continuing to assess the situation,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary. ”The press reporting stating that there was some type of surface-to-air missile that took down the plane, we assess that information to be inaccurate. Again, nothing to indicate, no information to suggest that there was a surface-to-air missile.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised a thorough investigation into the “tragedy.”
“Regarding the airplane crash, first of all I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of all those who died,” said Putin. “I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early ’90s. He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results… It will be conducted in full and brought to a conclusion. There is no doubt about that.”
In June, Prigozhin led a mutiny of Wagner troops against the Russian military establishment but called off the revolt after one day and appeared to have accepted exile in Belarus. This episode further highlights Putin’s unreliability as a narrator.
“We have seen the report about the plane crash which allegedly killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner group, alongside members of his entourage and crew members,” said European Union spokesman Peter Stano. “But again, like so many other things in Russia, this is very hard to verify for us, and therefore not for us to comment.”
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