Putin confidant authorized plan to kill mercenary chief Prigozhin: WSJ

A high confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the plan to kill Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin earlier this yr, The Wall Road Journal reported Friday.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the safety council for Russia, set in movement the operation to take out Prigozhin, in accordance with a former Russian intelligence officer, per the Journal. The plans have been later seen by Putin, who didn’t push again in opposition to them, Western intelligence businesses informed the outlet.

Prigozhin died in a airplane crash in August solely a few months after he and his mercenary group launched a short-lived riot with a aim of ousting Russia’s protection minister.

The Kremlin has referred to as claims that Putin was behind the crash “absolute lies,” however the Journal report offered new particulars linking one of many Russian chief’s high allies with the assault.

Whereas Prigozhin was ready for a safety examine on his airplane earlier than takeoff from Moscow in August, a small bomb was put beneath the wing, intelligence officers informed the Journal. After the airplane climbed some 28,000 toes, the wing blew aside, sending the airplane plummeting and killing all 10 folks on board, together with Prigozhin.

Patrushev is a longtime ally of Putin who rose alongside him within the ranks of Russia’s safety companies for the reason that Seventies. Although his place atop the nation’s Safety Council holds little formal energy, he typically represents Putin in delicate talks with overseas nations. He’s additionally believed to have orchestrated high-profile assassinations of dissidents and former spies.

Prigozhin was additionally an in depth Putin ally, starting his enterprise empire as a caterer to the Kremlin, earlier than turning into a warlord whose personal military was concerned in mining and mercenary work throughout Africa. However his outspoken criticism of Russia’s navy leaders amid the warfare in Ukraine started to bitter that relationship even earlier than Prigozhin’s mutiny.

President Biden instructed Putin was behind the crash on the day that it occurred.

“There’s not a lot that occurs in Russia that Putin’s not behind,” Biden informed reporters.