Early reports from a Wagner Group social media post and unconfirmed statements from the Russian state news service TASS announced that the founder of the private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was aboard a private jet that crashed north of Moscow. The Embraer twin-engine corporate aircraft was en route to St. Petersburg from Moscow. News accounts said Prigozhin was one of the seven passengers and three crew killed.
“If confirmed, no one should be surprised. The disastrous war in Ukraine led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now (it comes) — it would seem –- to this,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson declared. During a short-lived coup against the Kremlin in June, the private army leader actively fought against regular Russian forces, downing six Russian helicopters and an IL-22 airborne command and control aircraft with 13 on board. Though…
