Putin's right-hand man allegedly masterminded Prigozhin's death
The death of Wagner's boss Prigozhin in a plane crash quickly led to speculation that the Kremlin could be behind it. The Wall Street Journal has now published a report claiming that security officer Patrushev was responsible for the attack. He is a long-time confidant of Putin.
In June, Yevgeny Prigozhin rehearses the uprising against the Russian military leadership. Two months later, the head of the Wagner mercenary group is dead. He died when his private jet crashed on the way from Moscow to St. Petersburg. As soon as the sudden death of the influential businessman became known, there was speculation that the Kremlin could be behind it. However, Moscow's leadership vehemently denies any involvement. Head of state Vladimir Putin has even suggested that hand grenades could have exploded on board and caused the crash.
The "Wall Street Journal" (WSJ) now claims to have exposed this and other pseudo-explanations from Moscow as lies. In a detailed reconstruction of the events that led to the crash on August 23, the newspaper refers to the information provided by Western intelligence services, former American and Russian security and secret service employees and former Kremlin officials. The result: none other than the Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev is the mastermind behind the attack. According to the report, a small bomb was installed under the wing of Prigozhin's private plane before take-off. Around 30 minutes after the plane took off, the explosive device detonated, tearing off the wing. All ten passengers on board, including Prigozhin and Wagner functionary Dmitry Utkin, were killed.
According to consistent reports, Patrushev is one of Putin's closest confidants. According to the WSJ, the 72-year-old is the second most powerful man in Russia. He is a former head of the FSB security service, now secretary of the Russian Security Council and is considered one of the most influential hardliners among Putin's close advisors. The two have known each other since they worked together at the Soviet KGB in Leningrad - now St. Petersburg - in the 1970s.
Even before the Wagner mercenaries' rebellion in June 2023, Patrushev perceived Prigozhin as a threat to Putin's power, reports the WSJ. In particular, his open and vehement criticism of leading Russian military officers was a thorn in his side. In view of the military successes and the importance of the Wagner Group in the war of aggression in Ukraine, Patrushev feared that the private army had gained too much power.
Kremlin speaks of "pulp fiction"
On June 23, Prigozhin finally instigated a veritable mutiny. The next day, his soldiers left their positions in Ukraine and marched to Rostov-on-Don, where they wanted to confront the Russian military apparatus led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. During the course of the day, tanks even moved in the direction of Moscow. With the mediation of Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin was finally persuaded to give in. His mercenaries entered Belarus with impunity.
Putin spoke publicly of betrayal, but there was a kind of truce in which Prigozhin was able to move around more or less freely. However, the fact that such an uprising occurred was seen as a serious challenge to Putin's almost quarter of a century in power. The ruler obviously could not accept this. According to the WSJ, Putin did not contradict Patrushev's plan to eliminate Prigozhin.
After the report became known today, the Kremlin accused the US newspaper of publishing "pulp fiction". According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he had seen the story but did not want to comment on it. But then he added: "Lately, unfortunately, the 'Wall Street Journal' has a penchant for trashy novels." Moscow had also previously rejected claims that Prigozhin was killed on Putin's orders as "absolute lies".
If the report proves to be true, it would not be the first successful assassination attempt on a disgraced Russian citizen. In 2006, the former secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko was killed. He had fled into exile in Great Britain, where he drank tea poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210. According to a British judge, Patrushev had approved the murder.
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The Wall Street Journal's report suggests a different narrative, contradicting Moscow's denials. They claim that Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev, a close confidant of Vladimir Putin, orchestrated the attack on Yevgeny Prigozhin's private jet. This mercenary group wagner leader was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg when his plane crashed, leading to his death along with nine others.
Source: www.ntv.de
