WORLD
Many Russian oligarchs and businessmen have died in strange circumstances: is Prigozhin another?
The Wagner Group leader was leaving Moscow when his jet crashed, killing everyone aboard. He staged an attempted coup against Vladimir Putin in June.
A plane carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russia-controlled Wagner Group, has crashed after leaving Moscow for St. Petersburg.
Prigozhin is assumed to have died in the incident, along with the other six passenger and two crew members.
Russia’s civil aviation authority has confirmed that Prigozhin was aboard the flight, which had been in the air for less than half an hour when it came into difficulties. Members of the Grey Zone, a Wagner-associated Telegram channel, claimed that local residents heard two loud bangs shortly before the crash.
How many Russian businessmen have died?
Tensions within Russia have heightened since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Alongside the spiralling military losses there has been a sharp increase in unexpected deaths among high-profile businessmen and politicians in Russia.
The phenomenon - dubbed ‘Sudden Russian Death Syndrome’ - has become increasingly common as the war has dragged on and opposition to Putin has become more vocal. LBC lists 32 notable figures, not including Prigozhin, who have died in unusual or suspicious circumstances in the past 18 months.
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The first was Alexander Tyulakov, Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center of Gazprom, who was found dead in his garage in St Petersburg the day after the invasion. Most recently Kristina Baikova, who was the Vice President of Russia’s Loko Bank, fell from a window in her 11th-floor apartment.
It is not yet clear if Prigozhin’s death was a freak event or something more sinister.
Prigozhin led a mutiny against Putin
Prigozhin is the head of the Wagner Group, a paramilitary mercenary group with close ties to the Russian state. Usually active in parts of Africa, the Wagner Group has been refocused to support Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
However in June Prigozhin appeared to lead a short-lived mutiny as mercenary troops turned to march on Moscow. The apparent coup attempt was called off within days and Prigozhin fled to neighbouring Belarus.
Prigozhin has since insisted that his opposition was against members of the Russian military hierarchy, but the move was viewed in most quarters as a direct challenge to Putin’s authority.