Pak Sahafat – The spokesperson of the National Security Council of the White House, in the first official reaction of the Joe Biden administration to the reports about the plane crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner militia group, who had a failed rebellion against the Russian government and his death, said that if the reports are confirmed, we should not be surprised by this news.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency, Adrien Watson, the spokesperson of the National Security Council of the White House on Wednesday evening local time, in the first reaction of the US government to the possibility of the death of the head of the Wagner militia group in the plane crash, said: We have seen reports of plane crashes in Russia. If confirmed, no one should be surprised by this news.
This spokesperson of the American National Security Council added: The disastrous war in Ukraine led to the withdrawal of Wagner’s private army to Moscow, and now it seems that it has ended here.
The White House also announced that US President Joe Biden was informed of the reports about the plane crash in Russia.
The American newspaper New York Times wrote: According to the data of the Flight Radar 24 site, the tracking of this plane that crashed, about 100 miles northwest of Moscow, suddenly stopped.
News sources reported on Wednesday that the light plane belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner Group, crashed and all its passengers died.
The Ministry of Emergencies of Russia announced that a private plane crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg; the plane in which, according to Russian sources, Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, was present.
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According to this report, 10 people including 3 crew members were on the plane. According to preliminary information, all the passengers of the plane were killed. Rianavosti news agency says that the bodies of eight people were found at the crash site.
Tass news agency, citing Rozavyatsya, announced that Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the passengers of this plane. Telegram channel close to Wagner group also confirmed the presence of Prigozhin on this plane.
Russian media Reduka also says that Prigozhin may have registered only his name among the flight passengers and may have flown on another plane for security reasons.
In an article about this, Sputnik news agency wrote: This is the second time that Prigozhin is presented as a victim of the accident after the plane crash. The first one was on October 13, 2019 in Congo, this time in 2023, his name appears in the names of passengers on a private jet.
Meanwhile, Russian social networks wrote: Prigozhin’s second private plane is flying over Moscow. It is stated in these unofficial reports: According to the Flight Radar website, Prigozhin’s second plane zigzags over Moscow and behaves very strangely, there is a feeling that the crew does not know where to fly.
In March of last year, the head of the Wagner group accused the commanders of the Russian army of “treason”.
Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, who was previously the personal chef of Russian President Putin, in a statement in July of this year, accused the Russian army of attacking the positions of this group instead of attacking the positions of the Ukrainian forces. He also claimed to capture the military bases of Rostov and sent his forces towards Moscow. The Ministry of Defense of Russia and Putin himself accused Prigozhin of treason.
After a few days, the rebellion of the Wagner group ended with the mediation of Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, and Prigozhin was also transferred to Minsk.