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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Putin's right-hand man was behind assassination of mutinous Wagner boss Prigozhin with bomb fixed to wing of his aircraft causing fireball crash because he 'had to be removed', [WSJ]report claims |
| 2023-12-22 |
| [DM] The assassination of warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin was 'put in motion' by Vladimir Putin's closest security aide Nikolai Patrushev, it was reported today. Progozhin - formerly close to Putin and the boss of Wagner private army - died in a plane crash in August, months after he launched a failed coup against the Kremlin. Now an investigation by The Wall Street Journal says a 'small explosive device' was 'slipped under the wing', and that shadowy ex-FSB security service chief Patrushev, 72, was behind the assassination. Putin, 71, in October suggested that Prigozhin and his associates were high on cocaine when they detonated hand grenades in his business jet. He alleged 'fragments of hand grenades were discovered in the bodies of the deceased in the air crash'. But the journal cited a former Russian intelligence officer saying that Patrushev 'in his office in central Moscow, gave orders to his assistant to proceed in shaping an operation to dispose of Progozhin' - who had led the failed armed coup against Putin's high command in June. Western intelligence agencies said Putin 'was later shown the plans and didn't object', according to the report. This suggested Putin had given his blessing. The Kremlin had previously denied Putin was involved in ordering the assassination of ex-ally Prigozhin and today claimed the WSJ report was 'pulp fiction'. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #2 Why Prigozhin thought it was safe to go home will remain in 'Stupid for $500, Alex' column. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-12-22 21:32 |
| #1 Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-12-22 15:45 |