Article originally appeared on www.washingtonexaminer.com.
Russian paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to have been killed after a plane in which he was “listed among the passengers” crashed in Russia on Wednesday, according to state media.
“An investigation into the Embraer plane crash that occurred in the Tver Region this evening has been launched. Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport confirmed, per state-run TASS. “According to the passenger list, the first and last name of Yevgeny Prigozhin was included in this list.”
A senior European official surmised to the Washington Examiner that it was an “assassination.”
The incident comes just two months after the longtime Wagner Group chief led his forces in a brief but tumultuous march towards Moscow in June, with the stated goal of ousting Russian defense leaders. That abortive uprising was halted within a day, as Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have brokered an agreement to avert a major confrontation, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s much-publicized promise of safe passage drew skepticism in Kyiv and transatlantic circles.
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